Blue Jade
by Araine
Summary: "You are what you make yourself to be," he said. "I bought your debt because you're interesting. You're like a bauble right now - pretty on my arm, but useless. Like a little piece of blue jade."
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Blue Jade  
**Author:** Araine  
**Pairing(s):** Lau/Ranmao  
**Rating:** M  
**Warnings:** Drugs, prostitution, heavy implications of underage sex, and somewhat graphic violence. This is kind of a doozy.  
**Summary:** As a serial killer hunts down Chinese girls in London's East End, Ranmao remembers how - from a Taoist temple in the Kunlun mountains - she became a prostitute in Anhui, met Lau, and how together they left China.  
**Author's Notes: **Written for the Kuroshitsuji Big Bang, Devils Waltz on livejournal. Multichapter on Lau and Ranmao's backstory, with a frame story in Victorian England.

England, 1889

The Phantomhive Manor in the countryside was always refreshing to visit, even in the dead of the night and rain. It was no City God Temple, but it was the height of European architectural fashion, and the expansive gardens were one of my favorite places in all of England.

Lau sat across from me as we pulled up to manor's entryway, facing the carriage's covered window. There was something in his manner that was agitated, even though his lips were curved into a permanent smile.

"Do you think the Earl will be able to help us?" I inquired.

Lau turned to face me, his cat-like eyes slit barely open. "I plan to give him no choice, meimei," he replied.

He exited the carriage and I followed, the rain cold and drizzling on my braided hair, until we reached the eaves hanging over the ornate front doors. The young butler answered the door – unfailingly polite, but in his mannerism there was a measure of distaste at the sight of us. He led us into the foyer, lit a few candlesticks for light, and bid us wait as he left to inform the Earl of our arrival.

As we waited I locked eyes with Lau. "I thought we left this behind in China," I said, and there was an edge of fear that made my voice snap.

Lau smiled calmly at me. I could no longer see that edge of agitation at the corners of his mouth. "Perhaps this has nothing to do with that man," he replied.

I regarded him without words, my expression calm, but my disbelief was clear.

Lau merely smiled.

"Do you think the Earl will be awake?" I asked. It was the time of night when most should be in bed.

"He will be," Lau responded.

By then the young butler had returned, all smiles and infinite grace, and he invited us into the Earl's study. Lau settled an arm around my shoulders, and I fell into an easy place beside him.

We had once strolled down the streets of Shanghai like this. But that was a long time ago. His arm, heavy on my shoulder, was still a comfort to me, and my eyes flickered up to his ever-smiling face. Lau would take care of things, I knew.

The Earl was waiting for us in his study, with his customary calm expression. If the butler of Phantomhive Household was young, the Earl was even younger. Though barely even fourteen, he carried the air of a noble about him.

"Good evening, Earl," Lau said, and silks rustled as he gave the slightest bow.

"What are you doing here, Lau?" Ciel Phantomhive asked sharply.

"I have a favor to ask of you," Lau said, and there was an easily subservient lilt to his voice. I recognized that tone, although the English was occasionally difficult to puzzle out. It was the one of a man who wanted something, and was willing even to humble himself to get it.

Ciel held up his hand to keep his guest from continuing. "Sebastian," he called to the young butler.

"Yes, my Lord," Sebastian replied with an elegant bow.

"Bring us tea," Ciel ordered.

"Oolong, my Lord?"

"Yes, that's fine."

The young butler bowed directly to us once again. "Please wait a few moments," he said pleasantly, and he disappeared without a word or sound into the depths of the household.

Lau sat in the offered chair, and I perched comfortably on his lap. One of his hands settled upon my hipbone. I shifted, into a more comfortable position. After a few minutes, the butler returned with steaming tea that he set in front of us.

"This is Hong Pao Oolong from Fujia Province, flavored with orange blossom and almond," he said as he poured our tea from a phoenix-adorned pot. I noticed, with some surprise, that the pot must be imported from my homeland.

I sipped the tea. It was very good.

"So what is this favor you want, Lau?" Ciel asked once Sebastian had unobtrusively taken his place, his round, childish face perched on one tiny hand. His face was that of a child, but his manner was that of an adult.

I was no stranger to how old a person could be, at that age.

"Favor?" Lau asked, oblivious.

Ciel did not look amused. "The reason for your visit," he clarified.

"Oh," Lau replied. My gaze slid over to his face – the corner of his mouth was twitching. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he leaned forward. I could feel his breath on my shoulder. "I was hoping you could apprehend a serial killer. He has kidnapped one of my girls – and two other young Chinese women."

"No."

My mouth twitched at the severity of the Earl's response, at how quickly he had responded. The tips of my fingers curled around the sharpened needle tucked into the hem of my skirt, readying myself for the signal.

The young butler locked red eyes with mine for a long moment of stalemate.

"No?" Lau repeated. His voice was even. I went suddenly calm in the anticipation of the moment, breathing slowly. I could see the Earl's pulse in his neck, beating strong.

"I'm way too busy," Ciel replied nonchalantly. "If the Queen asks me to, I'll investigate, but I have other things on my mind now."

"I'm sure it won't be long," Lau said, equally as nonchalant. "I just thought I'd give you a head start."

"A head start?" Ciel repeated.

"After all," Lau said, "it won't be long before he stops targeting Chinese girls, I'm sure. Will the Queen forgive you, if you could have prevented an incident?"

Ciel stared at Lau for a long moment. He looked like he was weighing his answer. "How do you know his crimes will escalate?"

I could practically hear Lau smiling. "I don't," he said.

The young Earl's displeasure was evident from the look in his singularly visible eye. "Is that all you came for?" Ciel demanded of us.

"Of course," Lau replied nonchalantly. "Right, Ranmao?"

I nodded, and I eased my fingers on the weapon in my skirt. I could feel Sebastian's eyes leave me.

Ciel stood from his desk abruptly. "Finish your tea, and show yourselves out. Sebastian, I'm ready to turn in."

"Yes, my Lord."

The young butler followed the much younger Earl out of the room, leaving the two of us alone. Lau absently twirled one of my braids around the tip of my finger, and the heady smell of opium that perpetually wreathed mixed heavily with that of the famous tea.

Anhui Province, 1881

The air in the gambling hall always smelled strongly of opium-smoke, but the kitchen smelled more strongly of brewing tea. I was in that hallways just outside of the gambling hall where both of those scents intermingled, carrying a freshly brewed pot of tea, when a girl named Baiyu came around the corner.

"Ranmao, there you are," she said. "Auntie wants the tea, now. There's a group of Qingbang out there."

I jumped in fright. Some of the tea spilled out of the pot and onto the sleeve of my qipao, and I let out a small noise of surprise at how hot it was. The Qingbang were a gang of criminals. They controlled nearly all of the gambling halls and opium dens and whorehouses along the Yangtze, and thus our daily lives. If we displeased them, it meant dire consequences.

Baiyu gave me an impatient look. "Grab a cloth from the kitchen," she said. "And some wine as well. Hurry. Auntie's waiting!"

I turned and scampered back to the kitchen, taking care not to let the pot spill over again. If the Qingbang controlled our daily lives, then Auntie ruled over them. None of us were related to her by blood, but we were expected to call her Auntie. She owned the gambling hall and the auxiliary whorehouse.

When I returned to the kitchen, I asked for wine, and grabbed a cloth to blot at the long sleeves of my qipao. The silk was discolored from getting wet, and I frowned stubbornly at it, trying to get the tea out.

The small stain persisted, marring the blue fabric. I scowled at it, but at that moment I was handed the wine and I had to join the rest of the girls in the gambling hall.

I emerged to see the other girls surrounding a table, and two men who wore tangzhuang style suits. At the forefront of the crowd of girls was the tall and beautiful Xuanhua, the head girl. Though she wasn't the oldest by several years, we called her dajie, for 'eldest sister'. She was the pretties, and brought in the most money.

She spoke for all of us. "…you flatter me, Mr. Tianfeng," she was saying, looking flirtatiously at the elder man. It was, I knew, completely calculated. "Won't you stay here and gamble some?"

He smiled at her. "Unfortunately, I can't," he said. "Your girls would cheat us out of all of our money. What kind of boss would I be, if I allowed my disciple to gamble everything away?"

Xuanhua pouted up at Tianfeng. "Let him have some fun," she said. "They deserve it." She paused. "You deserve it too."

Tianfeng smiled lecherously at her. "Maybe later," he promised.

"Ah, Ranmao."

I turned around to see Auntie. She was a tall woman, with a straight back, although she walked a hobbling gait. She had been turned severe by years of weathering. "You have the tea and wine. Good. Go serve it."

I nodded, and approached the group, against all of my better instincts. I set down the tea and the wine, and then set to filling the cups of the men.

"You will join me, while I meet with your Auntie," he said.

"Of course," Xuanhua said.

"And have one of your girls entertain our newcomer," he said. "He isn't part of our organization yet, but he will be soon enough. Make sure to treat him well."

Xuanhua's eyes roamed the group of girls, until they found me. I frowned. Though I was beginning to grow into my own looks, I was a skinny fourteen, and next to the other girls it showed. They had seniority over me, and they never hesitated to use it. She was going to single me out to entertain this disciple.

"Ranmao will entertain Mr. Lau," Xuanhua said to me with a pretty smile.

"But dajie-" I protested, bristling at being excluded. These gang members might scare me, but I didn't want to be left alone with one of them.

She smiled at me, her arched lips curling into a beautiful smile, her teeth flashing behind it. She did not need to say more. I forced a smile at the other. He was not what I would call handsome, at least not in the conventional way. His face was long and thin, and his arched eyebrows, that framed his long-lashed eyes, made it look longer. He wore his hair in the Manchu style, braided down his back. He did not look like he had yet hit thirty.

I smiled at him, and then bowed to Tianfeng. "I would be most honored," I said to him.

He appraised me for a long second, and I felt the hair rising on my neck. Then he nodded to the long-faced man. "She will do, won't she, Lau?"

Lau nodded. "Yes, it seems so," he said.

"Take him to one of the back rooms," Xuanhua whispered to me quickly. "I don't care what you do, but keep him out of the way. And make sure he pays for everything."

I nodded, and then turned to Lau with a smile, though my heart was pounding and my palms were sweating. "Please, follow me," I told him, and I led him away from the group. We exited the gambling hall without speaking, the noise fading behind us so that only our shoes made sound at this time of day. I could feel his eyes on the back of my neck, but ignored them as I opened a door to one of the beautifully furnished back rooms.

"Please wait here, Mr. Lau," I said. "I will bring us some refreshment."

I then left, returning to the kitchen to grab another jar of wine and a cup for my guest. I did not dare to dawdle, even though I wanted to stay out of that room for as long as possible. Lau had not said a single word to me, but he terrified me. The only thing that brought me back was the thought of what would happen if I did not return.

I slipped back into the room demurely. Lau was reclining on the bed, and he looked up when I reentered the room. Once again, the feel of his eyes on me unnerved me, though his long lashes hid the direction of his gaze. I ignored the feeling, and knelt down at the room's low table to pour him a cup of wine.

"Look up," he said to me. I looked up slowly from pouring the wine, at his long face. His eyes were close, his expression pleasant. "You're not like the other girls here."

I fidgeted, straightening my fingers. What did he mean by that? "I don't understand what you mean," I said.

His long-lashed eyes slid open, eyeing me up and down. His slanted eyes and his reclined posture reminded me somehow of a cat, basking in the sunlight. "Your feet," he said quietly. I stiffened, and my eyes flickered down to my unbound feet. They were hopelessly huge. The Kunlun sect did not believe in the superficial guile of modern fashion – not when it would interfere with our ancient techniques. But I was no longer a member of the Kunlun sect, and my unbound feet did me no favors in this world. It was still strange to be reminded of it, after being so recently abandoned.

"My mother never bound them," I said quickly. "And now I'm too old."

Lau nodded to himself, processing this information. He seemed to be storing it away somewhere, for what purpose I could not begin to guess. Finally, he replied, "You'll never have a good marriage."

I glanced around at my surroundings – at the gaudily decorate room, and at my own form-fitted clothes that signified my station in life. "I would never have a good marriage anyway."

He chuckled.

I smiled prettily at him, determined to change the subject. "Would you like some wine, Mr. Lau?" I asked him, reaching for the cup that I had just poured. He nodded to me, almost unconsciously wetting his lips with his tongue.

I swallowed hard and approached him, holding out the cup. His fingers brushed mine as he took it from my hand. He drained the cup.

"More?" I asked him.

He nodded, and I filled the cup a second time. At first I thought that he might drain it again, and I might fill it again and again until he became drunk and I could put him to bed, but he only sipped idly at the rim.

That meant that the onus of conversation was on me. "So," I asked cautiously. "How do you come to be a part of the Qingbang?"

He smiled at me. "Well," he said. "That's a long story." I smiled at him, waiting for him to elaborate. It was a long time before he continued. "I'm here in Anhui to study medicine." He did not say anything further, and I silently wondered how much of that medicine that he was here to study was opium.

He took another sip of his wine.

"You're definitely not like the other girls," he said, as if he was musing to himself. I looked away from him. "You don't say anything, but I can see it."

My eyes flickered up towards him. I wondered what, exactly, he saw.

I didn't get the chance to ask. "I think I'll have more wine," he said. "And a pipe."

Lau did little more than sip at his wine and smoke his pipe for the rest of the afternoon, and I was quite grateful. I was still not experienced enough with my new profession to be comfortable around sex. Instead, I merely refilled his wine glass when it became emply, and otherwise became a furnishing of the room – unnoticed and mostly unneeded – until Auntie's meeting with the Qingbang member was finished.

After that, the encounter slipped from my mind. I did not forget it, but I decided not to worry about it. It seemed obvious to me that I had bored the cat-eyed young man. Why else would he choose to sit and smoke his pipe, and completely ignore me?

Which is why I was so surprised when he showed up again.

I was sitting in the tiny room that I shared with Baiyu, sighing over the newest bauble she had received from one of her customers. It was not that I envied her the attention, but such trinkets had value. If a girl was well-liked enough, and could amass enough of these tokens, she could sell them and buy her own freedom. Save finding a husband who would buy up her debts, it was the only way to leave a place like this.

"I have to find some time off, to get this appraised," Baiyu said, holding up the tinyg old earrings that made a tinkling sound when they moved. "What do you think they're worth?"

I looked at the little golden things. "Maybe about a hundred tael?" I guessed.

Baiyu grinned at me, and giggled in excitement. I smiled back.

"Do you think that's enough to buy your debt?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "Probably not," she said, looking at the earrings a little wistfully. "But it's a nice thought." She clasped them safely in her hand, frowning a little bit.

"What would you do, if you weren't here?" I asked her. It was… strange to think about Baiyu leaving. But that day did not seem like it would be very close.

Baiyu pursed her full lips. "I think I'd like a house of my own," she said, with a little bit of a smile. "Maybe I'd serve tea to customers. Maybe I'd even have a husband."

"You think that you could get one?" I asked her, half-laughing.

Baiyu drew herself up, patting at her upswept hair. "Of course I could!" she said. "I'm pretty enough!"

I laughed.

"How about you, Ranmao?" she asked me. "What would you do, if you weren't here?"

"I'd go back to Kunlun," I said firmly.

Baiyu arched an eyebrow at me. "You want to go back to the Taoist temple?" she asked.

I smiled and shrugged my shoulders.

Baiyu smiled at me, and leaned forward impulsively. "Ranmao, listen," she said, pursing her lips a little bit. "You're new here, so I'll give you some advice. Leave that behind you. It's too hard worrying about it."

I shook my head. She had to be wrong, I thought. But I did not get time to protest. The door opened, and one of the other girls poked her head into the room. "Ranmao?" she asked. "There's someone here for you."

I immediately jumped to my feet. "Do you know who he is?" I asked.

The girl shook her head. "No," she said. "But you should go quickly. He's waiting."

I straightened my clothing quickly, and smiled at the girl. "Thank you," I told her. "I'll see you later, Baiyu."

"See you later," Baiyu said to me, with a smile. I left her room quickly, bypassed the kitchen – noticing as I did so that I was hungry, but there was no time to grab some of the cooking dumplings – before scampering down another hallway to the room where a man was doubtlessly waiting for me.

When I was outside of the room, I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. Only once my breath came evenly did I open the door.

And then I gasped in surprise.

"Mr. Lau!"

He turned and regarded me, that inscrutable smile still on his face. He was lounging on the bed, wearing a tangzhuang suit in green, braid draped over one shoulder, elbow propped on a pillow.

"Hello again."

I swallowed hard, but then forced a smile. "It's very nice to see you again," I said. "Would you like wine? Or tea?" Both were already in the room, but I would pour them for him.

He seemed to weigh this decision. "Tea," he said at last.

I nodded, and took the tea pot from where it sat on the table, pouring it into a waiting cup, which I brought over to Lau. He took it as easily as he had taken the wine the last time I had seen him, and sipped from the cup.

I waited in silence until he had finished, and then took the cup from him and set it on the table. He remained lounged on the bed, his eyes closed – or at least his lashes were obscuring them. I was not sure if he was watching me.

I took a deep breath, steadying myself, and then I reached for the clasps on my cheongsam and began to undo them. My fingers shook, but I would do this. I resisted the urge to bite at my lip from nerves.

Then Lau held up his hand. "Stop," he said simply.

My fingers stilled.

"Not just yet," he said.

I stared at him, for a moment.

"More tea?" he asked of me.

I turned around, blushing scarlet. Was he even aware that I had started undressing in front of him, or that he was paying for every hour he spent here? He did not seem like it. Slowly, fingers still shaking, I buttoned up my cheongsam, and then I poured another cup of tea from the fired-clay teapot. I steadied myself, and then picked up the cup, handing it to Lau.

He breathed in the aroma and then took a sip of the tea. "Very good," he said. And then he looked at me – though, as always, I could not see his eyes. Still, I could tell that he was looking. It was a very strange sensation. "Do you want some?"

I figured that this was an invitation to drink tea myself, and I wasn't sure what his reaction would be if I didn't pour tea for myself. I frowned as the amber liquid flowed from the pot and into my own cup.

Maybe he was a man who liked foreplay, I thought. Though drinking tea seemed a little strange, to me. But who was I, to know the strange desires of men? I was not Xuanhua or Baiyu, both with years of experience.

I would let him lead this encounter. Perhaps he would once again get bored, and leave without touching me.

After a while, he spoke. "Have you ever been away from this town?" he asked me.

I was surprised by the randomness of such a question. "Yes," I said. "I lived most of my life in the mountains, in the Kunlun temple."

There was a brief flicker at the edge of Lau's mouth, and in his eyebrows. I registered this as surprise, but the expression soon settled back into his normal, immovable smile. "'When your mind is empty of prejudices you can see the Tao. When your heart is empty of desires you can follow the Tao,'" he quoted.

I looked at him over the rim of my cup, confused by his quote. Maybe he was trying to impress me? "I'm not a nun," I said sharply. "I'm a prostitute."

Lau chuckled. "You were abandoned," he said.

I looked down at my tea cup, battling the sudden lump in my throat. It was much too soon to talk about...

But Lau seemed to have forgotten it.

"If you are from Kunlun," he said, "you can do their legendary kung fu. Can't you?"

I nodded. "I began to learn when I was three years old," I replied.

There was a strange cast to Lau's smile.

"And do you still practice?" he asked me.

I did still practice – in my room, and in stolen hours late at night. It was hard, because I was often quite tired. But I did not want to give up what little I had left of the temple I had once called home.

I looked Lau in the eyes and lied, "No."

His smile only widened. I waited for him to say more. He merely sipped at his tea, and when he was finished with that cup, he asked for another. I poured it for him, and then fidgeted, waiting for him to say or do something else.

Eventually, he broke the silence. "Have you ever been to Shanghai?" he asked me.

I shook my head. No.

"Would you like to go?"

"I don't understand," I said.

"Don't you?" he asked airily. "You're like a butterfly, which has never once flapped its wings. Between caterpillar and butterfly. Don't you want to go anywhere?"

What was he talking about? I frowned down at my cup of tea. "I can't go, so why care about it?"

He frowned at me slightly, leaning forward. He stared straight at me through his lashes. "Why can't you?" he asked, utterly serious.

I fidgeted under that gaze, twirling my tea cup in my fingers, staring down at the amber liquid of the oolong tea within. "I'm in debt, to Auntie and the house," I said. "I can't leave, until I can repay that. Or until they cast me out."

"Hmm," he said. He leaned back on the bed once again, his head lolling on one of the pillows, once again immune to my presence.

I scowled at him in annoyance. "Why are you here?" I said sharply. "If you don't want to sleep with me, why visit at all?"

Lau sat up slowly. For a moment, I wondered in fear if I had crossed the line. But Lau merely smiled at me. "You're interesting, Little Kitten," he said.

"That's not my name," I said.

"Oh really? Your name is Ranmao—"

"It means blue jade," I said stiffly.

Lau reached forward, to catch one of my braids between his fingers. My eyes followed his hand, both wary and mesmerized, as he stroked down the coiled hair.

"I think blue cat suits you better," he said. "Even if right now, you're just a kitten."

What could I say to that? I watched as he toyed with the end of my braid, twisting it around his fingers and batting at the end. He seemed more like a cat, at that moment, than I was.

"I hear Shanghai is where little kittens grow up. And where cats can become tigers."

I snatched my braid back from his fingers. "Well, I can't go to Shanghai," I said, offended. "And I am grown up." Only fourteen, but I had already seen enough of the world. I had been abandoned by my parents, and now I lived here and served men. I was enough of a woman already.

Lau merely chuckled. I stared at him warily, as he stood from his lounging position. I stood to accommodate him, but he was already at the door, and opening it.

"I'll be seeing you, Little Kitten," he said. And he left the room without another word.

For a long moment, I stared at the door through which he had disappeared. He had once again come and gone, without making a move toward me. And instead of feeling relief at this, I was suddenly angry and confused.

If he didn't want sex, what did he want of me?

Unable to puzzle it out, I straightened up the room and then headed back to my own.

Lau did not return again for some time. But instead of forgetting about him, and about his visit, as I had previously done, this served only to annoy me. What annoyed me most, I think, was that I could not place him. He was not just another riverboat gangster, come to take his fill of wine and women.

And yet, he had no problem with inhaling copious amounts of opium - or wine, or tobacco, or whatever drug was available. He was not yet a member of the Qingbang, but he seemed exemplary of their company.

And strangest, he was very obviously Han Chinese, but he wore his hair in the Manchu fashion, in the midst of the company of the Qingbang. He seemed to me to be a walking contradiction.

There was nothing I could do, however, except sit and wait for him to return. I took to watching out for him, and asking the other girls if they had seen the members of the Green Gang lately.

Lau did return. But not in the manner that I had expected.

I was entertaining another customer at the time. Sex still intimidated me enough that I was a non-participant, and I let my partner kiss me when and where and how he wanted without interference. This might have made me boring to some, but for many men this was enough.

It was Xuanhua who came to fetch me.

She threw open the door, and I jumped in surprise, throwing my hands up to cover myself. I was still half-clothed, fortunately, or I might have been mortified by my still half-child's body. Xuanhua did not seem to notice, and she leaned against the doorway.

She smiled at the both of us - her pretty, utterly charming smile - and then gestured to me. "Ranmao, that Qingbang you're so infatuated with is here," she said, and though her smile was still the same pretty one, her tone was dismissive. "Finish up here, and then come straight to Auntie's study. Don't dawdle."

I nodded silently.

She smiled at both of us once more, and then exited the room. For a moment, emotions leaped within me. Silent exultation that Lau was back, as he had promised - as well as a strange kind of fear of seeing him again, and more of the same annoyance and confusion - what was he doing back here, if he was not interested in me?

I pushed that aside. I had a job to finish. Though my heart was suddenly pounding and my head spinning with curiosity, I turned to my companion. "Well then, shall we?" I asked.

"No, don't bother," he said. He reached into his change purse and pulled some money out - much less than I would have normally received. "I think I'm done anyway." He threw the money down onto the carpeted floor, and then walked out.

It's a strange peculiarity some men have. They will sleep with a prostitute, knowing full well that she has known many men in her life. But when presented with evidence of the others, they will be offended.

I frowned, deliberated for a moment, and then bent to pick up the change. It was scarcely half of what I should have had, but I could not bring myself to regret that. Perhaps later I would, but in this moment it seemed unimportant.

I fixed my clothing and hair, tucked the money into my sash, and then I left the room as quickly as I could. Auntie might be angry with me for allowing a customer to leave, but she would be even angrier if she knew that I had allowed a customer to leave and then had delayed at answering her summons.

Xuanhua was waiting for me at the entrance to the sitting room. I paused to bow and greet her respectfully.

She eyed me with a sour look. "Well, you're not particularly impressive," she said, looking at my outfit - green silk brocade hand-embroidered with bronze-colored thread in a flower pattern. "Maybe he'll change his mind, once he sees you."

I looked down at my outfit, immediately wondering if it was too plain. I thought that Lau had perhaps come to partake of my company - or whatever that happened to mean, in his case. But the way Xuanhua was talking, it seemed like it must be something different. And I had not even noticed - Auntie's study was a strange place to begin a rendezvous…

"Go in," she snapped. "They're waiting."

I bowed once again to Xuanhua, and stepped into Auntie's study. She was sitting at her Western-style desk in a warm-colored wood, her accounting books strewn across the table. She looked particularly authoritative, with her hair drawn up and in a cream-colored cheongsam.

Here in the brothel, her word superseded law.

Across from her was Lau. Perpetually cat-eyed, he lounged in his blue tangzhuang like a king. He held a pipe in his hand.

I bowed to both of them. "Mr. Lau. Auntie. Good day to you." As I bowed, I tried to catch a hint in both of their expressions, of what this meeting might be about.

"Sit down, Ranmao," Auntie said. Her speech was short, as was typical. She looked, however, faintly amused.

I sat carefully. From the corner of my eye, I noticed that Lau looked as serene as always. No help there.

Auntie leaned forward across her imposing Western-style desk. "This man," she said, "wants to buy up your debts." I looked up at her in shock. "I don't know why - that is between you and him -" She eyed me, and I shamefacedly looked down at my green-and-bronze qipao that seemed to ill-fit me. "- but we have gone over the sums and he has assured me that this is no problem. If this is amenable to both of you, I will gladly wash my hands of you. If you wish to continue to repay the debts of your fathers through working that is also fine."

I could hardly speak through sudden shock. Buy up all of my debts? What was he thinking?

"Could… could I speak to Mr. Lau alone… please?" I managed to ask.

Auntie regarded me for a long time. "Fine," she said. She stood, and walked to the door - and then, seeming to remember something, she turned back to me. "Remember, right now you are still mine. If he hurts you, you are still damaged property."

I nodded weakly.

So this explained Xuanhua's strange bitterness. She was angry, that my debts would be paid up before hers, when she was the favorite girl. It seemed strange to me as well. It also explained why we would meet in Auntie's office.

Could it also explain Lau's strange behavior toward me? Had this been his plan all along?

I looked up at him. He was still smiling, and still completely at ease. He seemed much too young to think of such prospects, but I could be very wrong. "Are you planning to marry me?" I asked him.

His eyes cracked open. He was amused by that. "I don't have any marriage plans," he said. "At all."

"Then why?" I asked him.

"I like you," he said.

"If you like me, you can just visit me here," I said. "Why buy up my debts?" I was loath to say it. Getting rid of her debts is what a girl in my position dreams of. But I was desperate to know the truth.

He shrugged his shoulders in a rolling motion. "I'm leaving to Shanghai soon," he said. "If you're here, you can't come to Shanghai."

That seemed reasonable. But it still didn't make sense. Why would he pick me? Why spend his money to help me - if he had no plans of marrying me? But I could not think of a way to word my frustrations, without giving him an opening for another cryptic answer.

Instead I said, "Shanghai?"

He nodded. "It's a very nice city."

"And you won't just leave me stranded by a roadside?" I asked.

"You have my word," he said.

I wondered how much I could trust that. I realized that it did not matter. "Alright," I said. "I'll accompany you."

He smiled.

And just like that, I had my freedom - without knowing what I might do with it, now that I had it.


	2. Chapter 2

London, 1889

The smell of opium poppy lay around us in a cloud so thick that I could almost taste it, but I was used to the smell - and the heavy sense of lethargy that seemed almost twin with the sweet scent. It seemed impossible that I had once lived a life without that cloud of heady smoke surrounding me, but I had.

That was before I had come to Shanghai.

I lay against Lau, my chin resting somewhere just below his collarbone. He stroked the edge of my qipao absently, to all appearances fast asleep - or at least halfway there. Lau had perfected the art of watching through almost-closed eyes, but here in the opium den he did not need to even do that. I was his eyes, and I informed him of everything that happened in a steady stream of whispered Chinese. It helped him to watch over his domain, all while letting most of his senses succumb to the peaceful unawareness of the poppy resin.

"Lord Webb looks like he is about to sleep," I said, my lips barely moving. "He's nodding his head up and down, at least. His eyes are open, but they don't seem to be seeing much."

Lau took a long draw from his own pipe. "Hmm," he said.

"I hope he's not a snorer like Gao-xiangsheng. I don't think Li-ming will like that much."

The edge of Lau's mouth curved slightly at my joke, and I knew that he had found it amusing.

There was a sudden creak from the stairs, and my eyes flickered over to the wooden stairs leading down to the basement den. My eyes fell on a familiar black suit, impeccably pressed and elegantly worn. I drew in a deep breath.

"What is it, meimei?" Lau asked me, his lips barely moving.

"The young butler," I said.

Lau seemed amused by this. "So the Earl took my bait," he said. "Interesting."

I frowned at this - Lau had said that Ciel Phantomhive would help him from the beginning, but that had been a gamble at best. I had not thought that they would help us. I did not even know if the butler's presence here meant that the Earl was pledging his help. My eyes flickered back to Sebastian - he was waving the smoke away from his nose with one gloved hand.

"He's crossing the room," I said quietly to Lau. "Halfway across."

I could just barely see the glitter of Lau's eyes, as he looked through his eyelashes at the unbearably handsome butler. Sebastian crossed the room without seeming to notice the scantily-clad Chinese girls or the half-dazed opium addicts littering the room. He headed straight for us.

Lau leaned up, forcing me to shift against him.

"Young butler," he said, slipping into English with ease. "How nice to see you today."

Sebastian nodded slightly. "My young master has sent me with a message," he said calmly. "He says that, part of doing the Queen's bidding is anticipating her bidding, and he will lend his help in investigating this spate of murders in the East End."

Lau smiled, and his eyes cracked open. "How nice of the Earl," he said. "I should thank him."

Sebastian smiled tolerantly. "My young master has also bid me to gather as much information on these murders as you have," he said.

My eyes flickered over to the stairs, where another pair of feet had appeared - plain brown shoes and a plain brown suit. I turned back to Lau. "Gao-xiansheng is here," I said. "It doesn't look like he's here to smoke."

Mr. Gao lived in the house next to the opium den, and he operated one of the two main entrances within his own house. Lau had hired him almost immediately after our arrival in London - he handled all of the Kunlun Company imports and sold them with deft efficiency to English companies. He had a round honest face and drooping eyes that made him look much older than he was - and it was because he looked so much like an honest grandfather that he knew everything that happened in the East End shortly after it had happened.

"Excuse me," Lau said to Sebastian, and the butler smiled and nodded tolerantly, stepping out of the way of Mr. Gao.

The elder man approached Lau quickly, the edges of his droopy eyes wrinkled with worry. He glanced toward Sebastian once, but without a cue from Lau spoke first in Chinese. "Another girl has been found," he said quickly.

I frowned, wondering who it might be. One of my friends from this very den had been abducted just last week, and I knew the other two victims. But most of the Chinese girls that I knew were smart enough not to go out alone anymore…

"Oh?" Lau said lazily. "Who?"

"An Indian girl. I don't know her name, but she was just found - on Charlotte Street."

I felt sudden relief, at hearing that it was an Indian girl. They might share the East End with us, but I did not know very many Indians. The only ones with whom I had any extended contact were Earl Phantomhive's friend and his butler, and I knew them only by association.

"Well, that's certainly interesting," Lau said. He took a long draw from his pipe, and then sat up a little further, his eyelids opening to fix the young butler with his gaze. He switched over to English effortlessly. "Well, young butler. It looks like you will be able to see the details of the murder firsthand." He chuckled under his breath, but I could see the irritation at the corner of his mouth. "Shall we, Ranmao?"

I nodded briefly, shifted, and moved from my perch on Lau's chest. He rose much more lazily, and I waited until he was on his feet. When he was, he slipped a hand around my waist, his fingers trailing at my hips.

Mr. Gao led the way to where the body had been disposed.

It was one of London's back alleys. There was a sizeable crowd around the body, although none of them wanted to get too close. The groups appeared to be divided into two camps - Chinese and Indian. Scotland Yard had not been called, or at least had not appeared yet. Considering how incompetent they sometimes seemed, I wondered if perhaps this was a better idea than getting them involved.

Lau took the lead, Sebastian, Mr. Gao and I trailing along behind him. The crowd parted as he walked. Among the Chinese of the East End, he had a certain amount of unwritten authority.

"It's him, isn't it?

"He's put the sign of the dragon over her."

The sight of the girl was gruesome. She had been strangled to death, and there were rivulets of blood running from her neck from where the rope had cut into her. Over her, painted in black ink, was the symbol of the dragon.

At the sight of Lau, a weeping Indian woman broke away from the group and approached him. "It was one of your people! One of your people killed Medha!"

Lau stood still, as she aimed a blow at him. I tightened my grip on my maces, but she only struck lightly, and Lau did not give me the signal. From this close, Lau had a few tricks up his sleeve to defend himself. After a few moments of hostile glares from the Chinese, another Indian woman drew Lau's attacker away.

Sebastian was ignoring this scene in favor of examining the body. He was touching it lightly with his long fingers, examining the dead woman from all angles. Once he seemed finished, he found the woman who had attacked Lau and began speaking to her quickly in low voices. She was still crying, but seemed well able to answer Sebastian's questions.

Not long afterward, Scotland Yard made their appearance in a horse-drawn carriage.

The fresh-faced brunet from the Yard hopped out first, followed by the gray-haired and top-hatted man with gray sideburns and a mustache. Fred Aberline and Lord Arthur Randall.

Randall took one look at Sebastian and went stony faced. "What is he doing here?" he demanded.

Lau stepped forward. "I invited him," he said.

Randall scowled at Lau. He suspected the opium den, but as we had never let him get near it, and because Earl Phantomhive vouched for Lau, he could never do much about it. I suppose he took it as a great smirch on his honor as a commissioner.

"What are you doing here? This doesn't even involve your people," Randall said, though he was looking around at the crowd.

"Umm, Lord Randall," Aberline said, "there seem to be a lot of Chinese around. Are you sure…?"

Sebastian stepped forward then. "I believe I can clear this up," he said pleasantly, although there was a flash to his cinnamon-colored eyes. "My master had sent me here to investigate a string of serial murders. The first targets have been Chinese girls - young, walking alone, and have all been found strangled with the Chinese symbol for dragon over them. The victim, Medha Virmani, fits all of these criterions; save, only, that she is not Chinese." He said this last with a deprecating smile on his features, as if he wanted to say, 'Honestly, commissioner, you really should keep up' but was far too polite to do so out loud.

Lord Randall blustered, his face growing redder. Aberline, shocked, said, "A serial murder? But how-"

Lau shrugged, his shoulders rolling. "We didn't report it to Scotland Yard," he said.

"What?" Lord Randall exploded. He appeared almost purple. "These are crimes! Why would you not report them-?"

"Chinese business is our business," Lau said coldly - though his smile remained.

Lord Randall turned around, blustering, and went to examine the body. Aberline seemed abruptly apologetic - though to who - and he went to Sebastian to question him. "Ah, excuse me," he said. "But if I might ask you a few questions…"

"Of course," Sebastian said. "I already examined the body. It seems she was alive when she was taken, and she was conscious when she was strangled from behind."

Aberline looked shocked. "How-"

"There are scratch marks on her neck," Sebastian said. "It means that she was clawing at her neck to get free from the rope. A silk cord, from the looks of the imprints on her neck. She appears to have disappeared sometime around ten this morning, when she left her mother's house to visit her sister.

Her sister never met her. Her murderer appears to have brought her here - perhaps after knocking her out with a heavy object - as this location is some ways from both the victim's mother's and sister's houses. She may have been seen on the way, but otherwise has not been seen until she was found this afternoon, sometime around one o'clock."

Aberline seemed quite impressed at this. "So, do you have any idea who the murderer is?"

"Not at all," Sebastian said pleasantly.

Aberline looked forlorn, but said, "Well, I should go investigate. See if we can find anything you missed."

Sebastian smiled in a deprecating way that was clear he believed that this was impossible but was humoring Aberline and the rest of the Yard. He brushed past Aberline to join the two of us.

"I should tell my young master about this," Sebastian said. "He will want to know." He paused, in thought, for a second before asking, "Do you have any idea of who might be the culprit?"

Lau shrugged. "Back in China," he said. "There was a man who called me a Tiger. But he died a long time ago."

Sebastian frowned at Lau.

"The tiger and the dragon," Mr. Gao explained, "are very ancient enemies."

Sebastian nodded. "I must speak with my master," he said. "Send him whatever information you might have concerning this man, and then we can formulate a plan."

Lau merely smiled and nodded.

Yangtze River Valley, 1881

We left that town just north of the Yangtze for a riverboat that would take us down the river quicker than we could travel by land, in the company of Tianfeng and several of his Qingbang members. The boat was broad-bottomed and wooden, with a large inner compartment where we could stay out of the sun, as well as sleep. Several young men poled the boat through rough spots on the river, and kept us on course, but mostly we used the river's current to propel us forward.

The high green banks and the glassy green water slipped by on either side of us, beautiful and serene. I spent much of my time on the deck, watching the scenery. I had much time for this, as I went unnoticed within our company. At first, I was worried. As the only girl among a large group of men - and a former prostitute, no less - I was not exactly sure where I stood. But not one of them propositioned me, and soon my worries waned. Beyond the few necessary words, none of our traveling companions spoke to me.

I wondered if Lau had said something.

This reticence among my traveling companions made the trip quite boring. I conversed with Lau some of the time, but while he was busy playing cards with the others, I had no one to speak to. I spent the time in thought, imagining what Shanghai might be like.

The first sign that we were close to the city were the other riverboats. Many were like ours. One was going swiftly against the current of the river, belching out white plumes of what looked like smoke.

"Is that ship on fire?" I asked Lau, when I saw it. He was characteristically cryptic about the questions that I really wanted answers to - like why I was even on this riverboat. But he would answer my queries about more mundane things.

"No, Little Kitten," he said. "It's powered by steam."

He had not dropped the nickname. I let it pass this time - I was too fascinated by the ship. I leaned out over the rail, gazing at the fast-approaching ship. "Steam," I said wondrously.

Lau nodded, and he smiled slightly. "Yes," he said. "It's a European invention."

I frowned slightly. Shanghai was the site of Western occupation. France had set up its own quarter there, and England exerted much of its influence. From what I knew, China's dealings with Europe were seldom easy. And the weak Manchu government could not deal with them.

"Don't worry, Little Kitten," Lau said.

I looked sidelong at him. "My name is Ranmao. Blue, like the waters of the river. And jade, like my hairpins." I reached up to touch the green ornament keeping my hair in place.

"Hmm?" Lau asked, looking at me. I did not think that he had even heard.

I shook my head.

We continued to see more and more boats - some of them like the steam-powered riverboat that we had seen others poled along like ours and still others smaller and simply rowed. They dotted the river from each of the banks - no longer steep cliffs but flat plains, lush with greenery. With the river this crowded, it was a skillful job to avoid the other boats, and the men with the poles pushed the boat along far more often. They sometimes got into arguments with the other boatmen as they navigated through the river.

Eventually we left the Yangtze for a smaller river, which the boatmen called the Huangpu, which they said traveled straight to Shanghai. Not long after we had entered the small tributary, the city came into sight. Docks lined the each side of the river, with riverboats passing to and fro between them. Houses of many different kinds rose up to overshadow the stone-paved streets, where crowds of people on foot and in rickshaws weaved in between each other without comment. I stared, open-mouthed, around me.

"So many people," I murmured.

Lau joined me by the rail of the boat. He was wearing wrapped robes in the style that a monk might wear - but white. It was a great contrast to his usual opulent brocades. "Welcome to Shanghai," he said.

"Why are you dressed like a monk?" I asked him.

Lau smiled cryptically at me. "I'm planning to enter the monastery," he said.

I looked sidelong at him, but he did not seem to be forthcoming in any explanation. Instead, I looked back out at the riverbank. "I've never seen so many," I said, referring to all of the people. "How do they not run into each other?"

"Practice." Lau chuckled. "There are bigger cities," he said, "in France, and in England. Shanghai is fairly new - and small."

I swallowed hard, staring at the city that lay before my eyes. I could hardly think that this would be my new home.

"Come on, little kitten," Lau said. "They're docking. Let's go see the city. And then you can show me whether or not you have claws." He walked away, presumably to go see the docking.

"That's not my name," I murmured under my breath, but I turned and followed him obediently.

—

I had never seen a foreigner before in my life, but Shanghai was overrun by them. There were times when the population of the city seemed to be only half Chinese - the other half made up of a combination of French, English, Danes, Americans and Russians. Our party wove among them quickly, leaving the riverbank docks for other parts of the city.

I looked around as I walked, most especially at the soaring European-style buildings lining the opposite riverfront. They looked beautiful and strange to me - with straight-lined rather than sloping architecture, and many windows. We soon left the Huangpu river behind, however, and we came to a district populated by large sprawling houses in both Chinese and Western styles.

Some of our party split off at this juncture. Tianfeng led the remainder up the winding road to our destination.

I moved closer to Lau, in order to speak with him. "Where are we going?" I asked him quietly.

"To see Master Zhang," Lau said calmly. "To ask him to become my teacher."

I realized that this had something to do with the Qingbang, and I shuddered instinctively. But I was confused. "But I thought Tianfeng was—"

Lau's hand wrapped around my waist, and I nearly jumped. I was not used to him touching me this close - though I was used to him touching me without warning. I swallowed hard, and tried to ignore the uncomfortably warm sensation of his palm against my stomach, as I realized that his chin was right by my ear.

"Tianfeng is my boss, but he is not my teacher," he explained quietly. "Master Zhang is a venerable leader of the Qingbang society. I have written him a letter, to see if he will accept me."

"Oh," I said. I glanced around at the other members of our party - all Qingbang members. None of them wore the white monk-style robes like Lau. "Just you?"

"Just me," he said. "But I'll be fine. I have enough money to pay their bribe."

I frowned a little bit at this. Lau chuckled, seeing my expression - and perhaps deciphering its meaning, or perhaps not.

I changed subject. "Should you be telling me this?" I asked him. I looked down at his hand on my waist, and at the way it had brought his lips so much closer to my ear.

He laughed lightly once more. "Why not?" he asked. He took his hand from my waist, and drifted away. I shuddered as the uncomfortable warmth and pressure disappeared, only to leave my flesh tingling beneath my qipao. I ignored this, and walked a little bit faster.

We reached a sprawling Chinese-style estate, made up of several tile-roofed buildings made with distinctive Chinese slope-curved architecture. Just from the look of it, I could tell that this estate was lavish. The courtyard that we entered was huge, and every space unneeded for a walkway was given over to beautiful landscaping. There did not seem to be any room spared for agriculture, as was the custom even in the largest estates back home.

Because it was nearing warm summer, we did not go inside. Instead, we made our way to an outdoor pavilion - surrounded on three sides by sprays from blue-flowered bushes and on the last by an artificial, flowing brook.

A man awaited us, dressed in officiates clothes. His hair was touched with long streaks of silver. As our party entered the pavilion, Tianfeng stepped forward and bowed to him.

"Zhang-shifu," he said. "I have been a long time in the countryside. I am glad to be under your tutelage again."

Master Zhang nodded. "It is good to see you again, Disciple Tianfeng," he said. "And the rest of you - it is good to see you in good spirits with your Elder Brother."

The rest of the group murmured their affirmatives and greetings.

Once they had quieted, Tianfeng spoke again. "I would like to introduce you to one who would like to become one of our brothers," he said. "He may be young, but he is very eager and very talented." I looked over at Lau, who had never seemed very eager about anything - though if he could be said to be eager about anything, joining the Qingbang was probably it. Talented, however, was a descriptor that I wondered about. Tianfeng continued. "He also is in possession of very many resources." This seemed like the better reason to invite Lau into their company. He was rich enough that he could throw away money on buying up a prostitute's debts.

Lau stepped forward and bowed. "I am very honored to meet you," he said. "My name is Lau. I have written you a letter for your consideration."

He reached into his sleeve, and pulled out a folded sheet of paper, on which I could barely make out characters written in black ink where they had bled through the paper. He handed it to Master Zhang, who took it without comment, and then unfolded the paper to read it quickly. The letter did not seem to be very long.

"Pupil Lau," he said. "You seem to be an educated man. Have you studied for the examinations?"

Lau nodded. "I did," he said. "But after a certain level, I found them too rigorous, and decided to be a doctor instead."

Master Zhang looked at Lau in incredulity, but then he laughed. Others laughed with them. Lau was among them. "Decided to become a doctor," he said, tears in his eyes. "You do know that doctor is an official position, don't you? The examinations are required."

Lau nodded pliantly. "But to study the trade of becoming a doctor, no examinations are required," he said calmly. "I'll take them later."

Master Zhang laughed again. "Take them later," he said, still chuckling. "Well, you are sure an interesting sort. Cheeky." He let loose another laugh. "Well, I suppose if nothing else, you can always fall back upon your father's wealth. Am I right in assuming that your father is Tao Shan, the head of the—"

"The Kunlun Trading Company, yes."

I was startled at hearing the name. The Kunlun mountains were a large range, but that had been the place of my childhood. Why hadn't I known that Lau was a part of a company based there?

"That might be the better route for you," he said. "I know that your father trades with the foreigners here in Shanghai. I assume that you will be staying at the Shanghai offices?"

"Naturally," Lau said.

"Good, good," Master Zhang said. He scanned the crowd of people, before his eyes fell upon me. "And who is this woman?" he asked.

I bowed my head to speak, but Tianfeng spoke first. "A prostitute, Master Zhang," he said. "From Anhui. It seems Pupil Lau took an interest in her, while we were there."

Master Zhang smiled at me. It was a smile that I did not entirely trust. Especially after Tianfeng's exacting description of me. "Well, our Pupil Lau is certainly full of surprises," he said. "But we have important things to discuss. Unless she is here for all of us-" I blanched at the suggestion, while some of the men around my chuckled "-then I suggest she leave. There is another pavilion further down that I am sure she will find quite pleasant."

Lau looked at me, his smile impenetrable. "It's alright," he said.

I gave him a long look, and then bowed and left the pavilion. The thought of being with any of those men made my skin crawl. Although I had once had sex for money, I wasn't sure what Lau expected of me, and I did not think that I was ready to accept such propositions for myself.

I frowned when I found the pavilion - this one much smaller and surrounded by Japanese cherry. What could Lau actually want of me? The Kunlun temple had sold me because I was a girl, and it wasn't important to keep me around - but I knew that I had fetched a meager price. Auntie had scoffed when she had seen my unbound feet, and had immediately declared me unfit to be a bride and only slightly more fit to be a whore.

But if that was what Lau wanted, he didn't seem aware of it. Unless I counted the hand around my waist earlier - which I was not sure that I did - he did not even seem aware that I was a woman. If he wanted a girl to bed, there were thousands who were prettier and more mature than me, like Xuanhua. I was sure that there were at least a hundred more like her in Shanghai alone.

So why me?

And why hadn't he told me about Kunlun? I had told him my heritage - I remembered the conversation. Had it simply slipped his mind, to mention that his father owned a company that operated a trade route through the mountains? I remembered my earlier dream to buy my freedom and somehow make my way back to the Kunlun Mountains with some regret. Going back there seemed almost impossible now - Shanghai must be thousands of miles away.

I scowled at the trees surrounding me, unsure of how to feel.

A runner found me later, and told me that Master Zhang had finished his conversation and that I was to rejoin my traveling companions. I left the smaller pavilion, and made my way quickly to where I had last seen my companions. I rejoined Lau without a word.

Tianfeng was speaking with Master Zhang, but they wrapped up their conversation quickly and we were shown out of the elegant household. We split up with Tianfeng and the others at the edge of Xuhui District. Many of the others hired rickshaws to take them to their destinations, but Lau bypassed the two-person carts.

"Shall we walk, Little Kitten?" he asked.

I nodded. "Fine," I said, and followed him. I suddenly realized that this was the first time we had been alone since he had purchased up my debts back in Anhui. For a moment, I fidgeted. Lau did not seem forthcoming with conversation.

Had he not even noticed what he had said earlier? I decided to speak up. "Why didn't you tell me you were a part of the Kunlun Trading Company?" I demanded.

"Oh, that," he said. "That's my father, not me."

I frowned at him. "I still would have liked to know," I said. "You knew that Kunlun was my birthplace."

"Did I?" he asked. "That's interesting."

I crossed my arms across my front. We hadn't had that many conversations, before he had in essence bought me. I remembered them fairly well. "What am I, to you?" I asked him. The question that had been nagging at me all journey. "Why did you buy my debt? It can't be because I'm a prostitute, because you haven't touched me once. But you don't even remember our conversation! So why—"

Lau chuckled lowly at me. I closed my mouth, and he looked at me from beyond his long lashes.

"You are what you make yourself to be," he said. "I bought your debt because you're interesting. You're like a bauble right now - pretty on my arm, but useless. Like a little piece of blue jade."

I shrunk at the unflinching description. For a moment I looked down at my hopelessly large feet - unfit for marriage, unfit for anything. "Or like a kitten," I said. My tone was strangely bitter.

Lau seemed amused by this. His eyes glittered. "Kittens can grow up to become cats," he said. "And cats can either be pets or rat catchers."

"And a piece of blue jade?" I asked.

"A piece of blue jade can be very useful. If it knows how."

I looked back down at my feet, thinking furiously.

"Shall we continue, Little Kitten?" Lau asked.

I nodded, and we left.

Lau led the way to a small office on the riverfront, a little further down from the International Settlement. We were greeted by a young-looking official by the name of Ying. It was clear by his expression upon our arrival that he had not expected Lau's visit, and that he disapproved of him in general. He gave Lau a quick lecture on staying out of what he termed "company affairs", and gave me a disapproving look, but put us up in a small apartment of rooms directly above the offices without too much complaining.

As soon as Ying had closed the doors, Lau wasted no time in making himself comfortable. This included taking off his monk-style robes, and finding a pipe for himself, which he quickly lined with opium.

"Would you like some?"

I declined the offer with a shake of my head.

Lau did not seem to mind. He reclined on a pallet that he had moved to the center of the room, and lit a candle, settling the end of the pipe over it. Suddenly unsure of what I should be doing, I sat on the floor of the room.

"You don't seem very well-liked by your father's company," I observed.

Lau took a long draw from his bamboo pipe. "I don't have to be," he said. I looked at him curiously, waiting for him to elaborate. He smiled enigmatically at me. "I only have sisters, so it's not like my father can disinherit me. My parents are still waiting on me to get married, so that I'll have to move back in with them. But right now, I can do what I like."

I frowned. "Filial piety doesn't mean much to you, does it?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"That's not very gracious of you," I said peevishly.

"Does it mean much to you?" Lau asked.

I looked at him sharply. What did he mean by that?

"Your family abandoned you," he said, as if that explained everything.

"They didn't abandon me," I said, standing up. "The temple did. And that's none of your business."

Lau merely smiled wider. He did not look like he was going to recant his words.

I turned away from his look. "I'll go get us some food," I said.

Lau nodded lazily. "My purse is with my robes," he said.

I found the money, and then left the apartments in search of a marketplace to buy food at.

—

It became our routine that sometime during the day I would take Lau's purse and go out to buy us some food. There was no guarantee that I would not take the purse and make a run for it - but the thought of running never crossed my mind. Perhaps because I wasn't sure where I would go if I did.

Neither of us was a cook by any means, and so I usually bought pre-cooked food from street vendors rather than raw ingredients. We knew that Ying kept a cook around, and we could have prevailed upon him for food, but we rarely did. I was disinclined to antagonize the man who was putting us up, and Lau did not seem interested in dealing with him.

Of course, Lau did not seem interested in much, aside from his pipe, his visits with Master Zhang, and some complicated Western medical texts that I could not read - according to Lau, they were in French. When I asked him when he had learned the language, he simply told me that it was a while ago.

He was often out, visiting with Tianfeng and Master Zhang and several others. I was never invited along to these meetings - though I was not sure if I would have accepted anyways. When he got back, Lau said nothing of their content, and I eventually learned not to ask. I could not even tell how they were progressing, as Lau's demeanor remained like a calm, windless lake.

—

—

It was at the mid-Autumn festival that I met Lihua. Lau and I had left the apartment in the company of Ying, but he had discarded of our company as quickly as was polite, which was fine with both of us. Lau had found a qipao for me in the new Shanghai style that showed off half of my thigh, and Ying seemed to think that we were losing face not just for ourselves but for the entire Kunlun Trading Company.

The qipao felt rather ostentatious to me, but I chose to ignore the strangeness of it, and the stares that accompanied it.

"Can we buy moon cakes?" I said to Lau, when we saw the tea shop that was selling them.

He nodded, and led the way into the tea shop. After a dubious look from the serving man at my clothes - and a quick exchange of coins between him and Lau - we were given a table outside and served moon cake and tea.

I ate my moon cake quickly - to Lau's apparent amusement. He picked at his, and sipped at his tea without speaking. My eyes wandered away from him and into a crowd of people.

I saw a flash of color above the heads of the crowd. Half-sure I was imagining it, I looked again - and that was when I noticed the slender woman putting on a wuxia demonstration for a crowd of admirers. As I watched her through the people, a mad idea began to form within me.

I looked at Lau. "Can I go to see the street performers, while you finish your moon cake?" I asked him.

He deliberated over this, and then he nodded. I stood up and left the table. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him draw his pipe. I smiled to myself as I made my way out of the restaurant and into the street and through the crowd of people. The martial artist wore a white hanfu that looked a little bit more like costume than actual clothing, but she was moving with quick precision that was absolutely genuine, as she swung two maces and traded blows with some imaginary opponent, sometimes coming a little bit too close to the crowd as she executed ostentatious and flashy moves.

I watched her in amazement.

And suddenly she finished, leaping above the crowd in a move on almost inhuman grace and landing on her feet, knees slightly bent. The two maces sent up a cloud of dust when they hit the ground. When she was not in perpetual movement, I noticed that she was on the small side, and that her hair was not at all gray but she had some lines around her eyes and in her cheeks. The crowd applauded. I clapped along with them.

She bowed to the crowd. "I have traveled a long way from Huashan to be here with you tonight," she said. "This is not an easy undertaking, even for one such as me, Xia Lihua of Huashan." She smiled a knowing smile, and held up a basket beside her, in order to accept donations.

I scrambled for something to give to her, but realized that Lau still had his purse. And then I remembered that gifts had doubled for currency back at the brothel. I reached up and pulled a silver clip out of my hair. It would have to do.

I waited until much of the crowd had dispersed, before approaching Lihua. Nobody was giving her donations anymore, even though the bottom was barely coated with coins. I walked up with a smile, and held out the clip. "Here," I said. "I don't have any money on me."

She took the clip and looked at it with one eyebrow raised. "You don't have to give a donation," she said.

I shook my head. "Your performance was amazing," I said.

"There's plenty of people who think that and don't give anything," she said.

I nodded, and tried to draw up my courage to say what I wanted. This was such a mad idea, but I suddenly wanted it more than anything. Lihua appeared to notice that I had not moved. "What was it that you wanted?"

I looked at her, flushed, and then blurted out, "I want you to teach me wuxia."

She looked at me incredulously for a moment. "No," she said sharply. "You're too old to start learning properly."

I shook my head. "I've learned before," I said. "Not very recently, but I've practiced… some." Though not much. I had not practiced since I left the brothel - it was difficult to hide when Lau was around, and I did not want to give up the secrets of my temple. I changed tack. "I'll work very hard-"

"Why don't you ask whoever was teaching you before to teach you again?" she asked.

I shook my head. "I can't," I said. "They're… too far away."

Lihua raised an eyebrow, but looked unimpressed by my plight.

"I'll pay you!" I said desperately, looking at the basket Lihua was holding.

Lihua looked at me shrewdly. "How much?" she asked.

"I… I don't know," I said. I would have to ask Lau about that. "But I will—"

Lihua laughed. "Next time, talk to whatever gangster has bought you before you promise money," she said. I blushed. She began to walk off.

"Wait!" I said. She stopped and turned around slowly. "If you change your mind… come to the offices of the Kunlun Trading Company offices. My name is Ranmao."

She shook her head and walked off.

I walked home that night with Lau, feeling oddly melancholy. I had tried to make myself into something useful, and nothing had happened. I was still just an ornament, as Lau had said. Pretty but useless.

I had thought that learning wuxia would be perfect. I already knew some, but it was not enough to be useful. But with a good teacher…

I shrugged off the idea. I did not even know where to find a teacher, let alone how I might pay one. I let the idea pass, and the next day I settled back into my routine.

The next day, I was headed back from the marketplace when Ying stopped me suddenly. "There's someone here for you," he said. "I sent her up to Lau." It was clear from his tone that he disapproved of my visitor on principle.

I rushed upstairs, only to have my wildest hopes confirmed. Lihua was sitting at the table, across from Lau. The cat-eyed man looked up when I came inside. "This lady says that you want to learn wuxia, Little Kitten," he said.

I opened my mouth to say something.

"He has already agreed to compensate me," Lihua said. "You have a very indulgent gangster here."

I stared at Lau, still open-mouthed. I had meant to talk to him, but… he had agreed? And why had Lihua-?

"But you…" I said, unable to articulate my thoughts.

"… Remembered the teachings of my old master. Huashan Sect does not turn away anyone who asks to learn. Even if they are dressed in a revealing qipao and in the company of gangsters."

I felt suddenly lightheaded. "Thank you. This is…" I could not find words.

"Thank me later," she said. "We're starting right away. Find some suitable clothes."

My cheeks grew hot. "I don't think I have anything suitable," I said. "Not since I left the temple…"

Lihua nodded, and then turned to Lau. "Give her a tangzhuang to use," she said sharply. I stared at her order to Lau, but he merely nodded.

"Go and find one," he said to me.

I went into his room and searched through his clothes until I found a gold tangzhuang suit that fit badly until I cinched it up with ties. Lihua did not look very impressed by it, but Lau seemed amused.

"Let's go," she said to me. "We'll use the courtyard."

"Let me ask Ying," I said. I left the apartment and headed downstairs to the office directly below us. Ying was there, meticulously marking his papers.

"Excuse me," I said.

He looked up. "Yes?" he asked, looking at me across his long nose. "I'm busy."

I looked down at his scrutinizing expression. "I was just wondering, if I might use the courtyard," I said. "To practice kung fu."

Ying stared at me for a long time, in which I thought that he might refuse. He was probably wondering what a girl like me might do with kung fu. But he eventually looked back down at his papers. "If you must."

"Thank you!"

The courtyard was like a miniature garden, behind the Kunlun Offices. It was kept for entertaining important guests, and though it was small, it was beautifully landscaped, with flowering plum trees around the edges, and an arbor that was covered in grape vines. In the center, however, was an open stone courtyard. I found Lihua waiting for me in the middle of it, standing absolutely still, hands behind her back, eyes closed. I stopped in front of her, waiting for her to say something, shifting my weight from foot to foot.

"Be still," she said, without opening her eyes.

I tensed my body.

"Breathe," she said. "You have obviously been neglecting the studies of your temple."

I drew in a deep breath.

"You have to center yourself," she said. "That is at the heart of any art. The way to do that, is by breathing."

We did not practice any actual kung fu that day. When we finished, Lihua looked less than impressed. "I'll be back on Friday," she said. "If we were in a temple, I would see you again tomorrow, but I have better things to do. But you should practice."

I nodded at her, unsure what she meant by practice. She left, and I headed back up the stairs to the apartment above the offices.

He smiled at me when I came in, eyes glittering. The room smelled of opium smoke.

"That was interesting, Little Kitten," he said.

"That's not my name," I murmured at him.

Lihua and I trained diligently, eventually moving on from breathing and onto more complex kung fu. As I remembered more of what I had learned in the temple, she grew steadily more impressed Lau continued to pay her without comment. To Ying's displeasure, Lau seemed to have no scruples in taking liberally from the Trading Company's coffers. I got the impression that Ying meant to complain extensively to Lau's father, but had no authority to actually stop Lau from dipping into his family's company for his own generous bribes.

I did not know how much money he was paying to Master Zhang and Tianfeng, but it must be a lot.

But what Lau did with his own money was not my business. Even if he bankrupted himself, I was in no worse position than I had been before - in debt and working nights for my freedom. But for Lau, money was never an object, so it was a moot point.

And then - two months after we had arrived in Shanghai - Lau said that Tianfeng had been asking after me.

"Me?" I asked.

"You came along on our journey east," he said. "He's been asking after your welfare."

I looked at him, trying to scrutinize his contented smile. Lau did not look all that concerned about what Tianfeng wanted. But the man had hardly spoken a word to me over our journey eastward.

Lau chuckled. "Don't worry, Little Kitten," he said. "He wants to offer you up, as a token of my good faith. But he wasn't the one who bought your debt."

I looked down at my hands. Thus far, I had not been much use to Lau. I was learning kung fu again, but I was still barely more than an amateur.

"And is that what… you want?"

Lau shrugged. "I haven't decided what to do with you yet," he said. "Until I decide that, you're mine. I'm not going to offer you up to anyone."

I nodded. "Do you think I should show up, though?" I asked.

Lau looked at me through a cat's sly eyes. "It might be fun," he said, after a moment. "Wear a qipao, I think. It will be like feeding them vinegar."

The next night, I pulled on the same amber-colored qipao that I had worn for the Mid-Autumn Festival, the same one that showed off my legs and my developing figure. If Lau wanted to make the other Qingbang envious, then this was the perfect outfit. I did my hair with an ornament made of amber, in a more traditional style, though I threaded several long thin braids throughout.

Lau smiled when he saw me, and he wrapped an arm over my shoulders, leading me to the waiting rickshaw. I stepped in nimbly, my knee flashing out of my skirt for a second before I arranged myself. Lau sat next to me.

"Perfect," he said, pressing one hand to where my skirt had flared and shown my leg. "Play with them a little like that tonight, Little Kitten."

I moved my knee away from his hand deliberately. "How long are you going to call me that?" I asked him.

"When you're an adult cat," he said teasingly.

I crossed my arms at him in a pout, but he was jovially oblivious, watching the streets pass by with an amused expression on his face. He pointed out the buildings to me - some that I had seen before, but never recognized, others that I had never noticed. Many of them were related to trade. Many others were gambling halls and opium dens. I wondered how many of those he had visited recently.

The Xuhui District was much as I remembered, with walls separating the tree-lined streets from the vast and sprawling estates, shingled roofs atop them, and circular doorways providing breaks in the architecture through which guests could enter. We reached Master Zhang's estate at the end of one long street and exited the rickshaw.

After the warm day, the evening was crisp and pleasant, and we ate outside. I was not the only woman at the table. Two women sat with Master Zhang - one who must have been his wife, the other young enough that I assumed she was his daughter. There were a few others wives, but other than Master Zhang's daughter, none of them were as young as me. None of them were dressed as I was, either.

Tianfeng smiled wide when I approached, but said nothing.

We set to the meal in quick order. Master Zhang ate first, as the foremost among our company, and then the rest of us picked and choose from among the dishes arrayed on the table. The food was good - better than what I could get in the market or from Ying back at the Kunlun Trading Company. I ate eagerly, but politely, taking from each dish in turn in order to not show preference for one over another.

The conversation over dinner was brisk and mostly about the interlocking changes of the foreign nations, and what they had to do with our native China.

"The Manchu government is asserting itself again," said a man wearing round spectacles that made his face look like an owls. "They regained much of the territory that China lost to Russia, after the Muslim rebellion-"

Another man, sporting a thin beard that covered his thin face, laughed. "What? All the way out there near Russia?" he demanded. "What about here in China? A foreign people shouldn't rule China."

The bespectacled man waved his chopsticks at the bearded man. "I agree," he said arrogantly. "But China has been ruled by the Manchu for two hundred years. They're not going to give that up easily, no matter how many rebellions the people mount."

"Well," Lau put in, "it all comes down to Heaven's Mandate, doesn't it?"

The bespectacled man looked at him, and I had the feeling that Lau was speaking out of turn.

Lau shrugged beside me, unperturbed. "If the Manchu have Heaven's Mandate, then they will rule," he said. "Same as the Europeans, same as anyone. Isn't that what they say?"

The bearded man frowned. "The Europeans?" he demanded. "They're worse than the Manchu."

"And you live in Shanghai," his wife needled him. "This city is overrun with Europeans. There isn't much that we can do about that."

"They do have superior military force," Lau said amiably. "But that doesn't mean we are out of options. The Europeans might change China for the better."

The bearded man scoffed. "Well, aren't you forward thinking?" he said. "Your hair is in a braid - how very Manchurian of you."

Lau shrugged. "Just good politics," he said.

"And what about your… girl's dress?" the bearded man demanded. "Is that good politics, too?"

I looked at him sharply. It was the first time that I had been addressed for the entire conversation.

I could see Tianfeng smiling. "It is very interesting, Lau," he said. "It couldn't be for the benefit of our company, could it?"

Lau smiled at him, carefully blank. "I just like it," he said. He slipped one arm around my waist. "It's for me." The implication - that I was for him as well - rang through his actions.

"Well," Tianfeng continued, "she is a prostitute, isn't she? Surely she's used to the attentions of many men?" I flushed at his forwardness. "Or do you mean to tell me she's had no customers? We could check, I suppose."

I frowned at him. "I have entertained customers," I said acidly. "But none of them would have been you."

Tianfeng glared at me. "So you mean to be Lau's kept pet?" he demanded.

I had no reply to that, but I did not need one. Master Zhang - who had remained quiet through the meal - raised one hand. "Enough," he said. Tianfeng's glare looked like it might burn through the table, and Lau's arm tightened about my waist, but neither of them said anything more.

We respectfully returned to eating. But I did not miss the wary looks from the other women, after I had ousted myself as a prostitute, or the occasional glances from one of the men. I ate the rest of the meal in silence, until Lau announced that it was time for us to leave.

I stood up with him, eager to leave the expansive estate.

"Goodbye," Master Zhang said. "My wife will walk you out." He looked at us. "Remember, we will have the ceremony on the New Year. And the lovely Ranmao will join us, won't she?"

Lau nodded. "Of course," he said.

Master Zhang's wife stood from the table, to show us out the door and to our rickshaw. She bid us a quick farewell. "Take care on your way," she said, and she looked at me. "A girl like you can never be too careful of attentions from stray men."

As we pulled away from the Zhang Estate, I wondered about that double-edged remark.

Crouch, spring, kick, land. The rhythm of the motion was inside of me, so that I barely had to think about it. After months of work, the movements had returned to my bones. Sweat beaded the back of my neck, and was immediately chilled by the cold winter wind coming off of the ocean.

"Again," Lihua snapped.

I crouched and performed another furious, flying kick.

"Again!" Lihua called. She was circling me, watching my movements with her sharp eyes. I was still no master, but although Lihua was no less exacting than before, she also no longer looked at me in exasperation. Again and again I performed the same series of movements - crouch, spring, kick, land - until I could repeat them without thinking. As I moved, I began to channel my annoyance into my movements.

Crouch, spring, kick, land.

"It couldn't be for the benefit of our company, could it?"

Crouch, spring, kick, land.

"A girl like you can never be too careful of attentions from stray men."

Crouch, spring, kick, land.

"My mother never bound them, and now I'm too old."

"You'll never have a good marriage."

Crouch, spring, kick-.

"Enough." Lihua's voice broke into my rhythm, and I felt the shock to my ankles as I landed on the ground, all the way up through my spine. "You can stop now." I nodded, and broke my stance that I had used to break my fall. Lihua crossed her arms over the front of her own practice suit. "Are you alright, Ranmao?" she asked.

I was surprised. Lihua, while being my exacting teacher, had never reached out to me like this. "I'm fine," I said.

"Hm," Lihua said, and she seemed unconvinced by my confused reply. "Well, don't be so concentrated on the power of the blows that you injure yourself. You want to focus on your balance."

I hung my head toward the ground. "It's just something that someone said," I admitted.

"Oh?" Lihua asked with an arched eyebrow.

I laughed a little bit, although it died bitterly behind my lips. "It's not even untrue," I said. "I am a prostitute. And I would never have had a good marriage. I should expect other women to… to…"

"Yes, I suppose that is to be expected."

I looked at her in puzzlement. "So you're saying I deserve it," I said.

"No," Lihua replied. "I'm saying that is the way the world works. You are unmarried, in the company of a Qingbang, and a former prostitute, just as I am a kung-fu master whose school is gone, and an immigrant to Shanghai. We cannot change that this is where fate has brought us. You can learn to love it or learn to hate it, but either way, you have to live with it."

I bit my lip, pondering these words.

"Are you rested?" Lihua cut into my thoughts.

I nodded, and put that lecture away for the moment, as I wondered what she would drill me on next. My frustration was not gone, but it was abated some, and I would have time to think about Lihua's wisdom later.

"Good," Lihua replied. And instead of instructing me, she went to the edge of the Kunlun Trading Company's courtyard and brought out the twin hammers that I had first seen when I had seen her performing. She had brought them to every practice, but had rarely used them. As she gave one of the hammers an experimental swing, I wondered if we were going to have a practice fight.

Lihua returned to where she had been earlier. "These are chui," she said, holding up one of the hammers. "The weapon that I know best. I will teach you their art."

My eyes widened.

"Take your stance," she said to me. "You need to be centered."

I dropped down, and widened the space between my legs, bending my knees so that my center dropped. Lihua looked at me and corrected verbally. Once she was satisfied, I glanced warily at her.

"Now," she said. "Take these."

I reached out to take the first chui. I wrapped my hand around the iron handle, made sure of my grip, and then Lihua let go. Immediately, the end of the weapon dipped forward and hit the ground with a crash, damaging the pavement. A fleck of courtyard stone scratched my face.

"Hold it steady!" Lihua snapped at me.

I braced myself, more aware of the hammer's weight, and slowly brought the tip of the weapon off of the ground until it was parallel. A moment later, I found the center of balance. It was still enormously heavy. Lihua inspected my grip, adjusting it.

"Good," she said, when I had begun to sweat with exertion. "Now the other one."

I bit back my complaint. Lihua handed me the other chui, and let it go. It did not drop to the ground like the first, but it was a close miss. Slowly, I found the center of balance while Lihua inspected my grip. My forearms began to ache.

"Now stay there," she said. "Until I tell you to move."

I took a deep breath to center myself, and counted the seconds as sweat beading down my neck and gusts of chill wind.

The New Year came fast. Ying oversaw the cleaning of the Kunlun offices with his usual brisk efficiency, and enlisted our help to do so. Lau, I learned then, was a skinflint cleaner and often employed me to observe his chores. These I did without comment. I had cleaned all of my life, both back at the temple and in the whorehouse. Though traditionally, the entire household is supposed to clean, it seemed natural to me that Lau might skive off.

The Kunlun Offices also hired cooks to help in preparing New Year's food, which I was grateful for. I had no idea how to cook the many traditional New Year's dishes, and I surely would have made them wrong and brought bad luck down on myself. Instead, I was treated to the many smells wafting from the kitchen, reminding me of the coming holiday as I went about my chores.

Ying took the New Year's Eve meal with us and the other Kunlun employees who lived in the offices, though I believe our inclusion was more out of obligation to the holiday than any kind of genuine affection. Even after months working with Kunlun, I did not know many of the employees, and so I spoke little. But I went to bed full and happy.

I woke the next morning to find a red envelope beside my head, sitting atop a pile of gorgeous lavender silk. With shaking hands, I snatched up the envelope and peered inside. As I had suspected, money was tucked neatly inside of the decorative red paper. I drew a shuddering breath.

I had received gifts before, trinkets and clothes. But I had never had any money to my name, even pocket money. Impulsively, I stuck my nose into the envelope and breathed in the smell of the silver. Then, feeling foolish, I tucked the envelope under my pillow and unfolded the pile of silk.

It was in three parts. The lavender qipao on top, which was shorter than anything that I have ever worn, and painted with butterflies. Then there was a navy jacket that would cover my arms. And last, a European-style corset with a long white lacing that looked extraordinarily complicated.

I drew my lower lip into my mouth and held up the lavender qipao, examining it. It was barely more than a scrap of fabric. The qipao might be on the cutting edge of fashion, and Lau might like showing me off, but this seemed to be going too far. But I had no other new clothes to wear for New Year's day, so I set down the qipao and began to remove my sleepwear.

The qipao and jacket were easy, but as I had predicted, the corset was a lot more complicated. I could not keep it in place and tighten it at the same time. After my fingers became tangled in the lacing for the fifth time, I sighed and left my tiny room.

Lau was waiting out there, reclining in a chair, wearing his own new clothes - a green-and-gold suit. A smile stretched across his face, and I could feel his eyes as they swept across me. "Oh," he said. "It looks good." A hot flush crossed my cheeks.

"Can you help me?" I asked.

"Mm," Lau responded. He stood up, and beckoned me to turn around with his finger. I did so, and he adjusted the corset. "Hold it there. Breathe in." I pressed my fingers against the corset to keep it in place and filled up my lungs. I could feel his fingers as they skimmed across my back and criss-crossed the lacing. I tried hard to ignore the shivers going up my back.

And then his arms looped around my waist and when they came around to my back they skimmed my sides. I breathed sharply, which caused the corset to tighten alarmingly.

I could hear Lau's chuckle against my ear. Suddenly I realized that he was much closer than I had thought. My mouth felt dry. I swallowed.

His hands wrapped around my front twice more, and then he quickly tied a bow in the lacing. My face felt hot and my head felt light, which might have been from the restriction of the corset.

I turned around to face Lau.

"You're stunning, Little Kitten," he said. "You'll be the envy of the New Years celebrations."

I looked down at myself. "I thought it was improper to tell a lie on New Years day," I said.

Lau just smiled inscrutably. "Shall we go see the Lion Dance together?"

I nodded eagerly.

It had been a spectacular week of celebrations for the New Year. This was our second Lion Dance, and instead of the new lavender qipao I was wearing a longer green one, embroidered with gold bamboo leaves, though two long slits up the sides made it nearly as revealing. I chewed on sugared lotus roots, already full to bursting from all of the feasting but I did not care.

Lau had barely eaten at all today, and I had not seen him touch his opium pipe. But his mood was still jovial as ever, and he wrapped one arm around my waist - a gesture that was becoming increasingly distracting. I turned back to look at him. His normally braided hair had been tied into a knot at the top of his head, and he was once again wearing white monks robes.

It seemed strange, to wear something so austere during a holiday.

Lau had barely eaten at all today, and I had not seen him touch his opium pipe. But his mood was still jovial as ever, and he wrapped one arm around my waist - a gesture that was becoming increasingly distracting. I turned back to look at him. His normally braided hair had been tied into a knot at the top of his head, and he was once again wearing white monks robes.

It seemed strange, to wear something so austere during a holiday.

Slowly, I scanned his face. His long lashes fluttered against one another, and I wondered if he was watching the Lion Dance.

I turned back to watching myself, my eyes following the many colorful dragons made out of sturdy cloth and bamboo, all with two dancers underneath. Until this year, I had never seen a New Years festival quite like this. Even watching the people was entertaining, as the streets were overwhelmed with Chinese and foreigners alike.

Lau settled his hand on my shoulder. "Time to go, Little Kitten," he said. His voice was barely audible over the clapping of the crowd.

I turned around, puzzled. "Go where?"

"To the temple," Lau said. I turned around and followed him out of the crowd. Our vacated spots were quickly filled by more spectators who wanted a better view of the dancing lions.

"Why are we going to the temple?" I asked him.

"It's time for me to take my vows."

Because of the holiday there were no rickshaws to take us to the City God Temple, but the walk was not far to the Foreign Concession. Fireworks flashed and banged above the temple, reflecting over the water, obscuring the reflections of the strung red lanterns. Everything was lavishly decorated, and people milled about the temple in celebration.

"You're going to take your vows in this?" I asked, gesturing to the huge crowd. It did not seem very conducive to an elaborate ceremony.

"Don't worry," Lau said. I followed him as he weaved through the crowd, and he went straight inside of the temple. I looked up at the lavish architecture, at the golden dragons entwining about the pillars and the lintel, bringing luck to the temple. It was beautiful. But I had little time to stare, as we passed by quickly.

I knew something was different when the temples lavishness decreased - not by too much, but by enough. I wondered if Lau knew where he was going, or if he had taken us to the priests quarters by accident. But he walked with confidence, and then he turned through what seemed like a wall.

I gaped for a moment and rushed forward, looking around and wondering what he was doing. And then I saw him - standing in the midst of a tiny alcove that nearly blended into the wall. I gaped at him.

"What is it, Little Kitten?"

I closed my mouth. "Nothing," I said.

Lau rolled his shoulders, and then turned around and headed deeper into the alcove. I followed him. Quickly, we reached a tiny staircase that seemed to get damper as we went down. I realized that we were heading down into the base of the temple, which was built on the river. And then we emerged in a wide room that smelled of incense and opium, with one jade Buddha at its head. It was filled with white robed men kneeling, and several others - mostly women, though some friends - that knelt near the back. For as many people who filled the room, it was eerily silent.

Reluctant to break the stillness, I took my cue from the others and separated from Lau, joining the people at the back of the room. He joined the other white-robed men.

The minutes dragged by slowly, and several more white-robed men joined us. And then the entire room swelled with anticipation, and I turned toward the stairwell, from which six men dressed in elaborate hanfu filed in. Master Zhang followed them. They stood at the front of the room, and the white-robed men all bowed deeply to them.

My eyes flickered to the other spectators. They were all absolutely still, like they had become statues to decorate this sparse room.

The older men wearing hanfu lit several sticks of incense and placed them upright beside the jade Buddha, where I noticed three stone tablets sat at his feet. The incense began to fill the room with a sweet scent. One of the men in a brown hanfu, his beard long and shot through with gray, stepped out of the line and said, "Master Zhang. I, Master Zhou, have been given the honor of introducing these initiates to you, so that they might become one of our brotherhood." He procured a scroll, and proceeded to read off the names of all of the applicants, who bowed with their heads to the floor when their name was called. My eyes sought out Lau. It seemed strange to me, that he might bow like that.

At an unknown signal, another man stepped forward - this one wearing a blue hanfu. "You may now bow before the altar, representing our patriarch Luo, as well as his three progenitors, Wen, Pan and Qian."

The white-robed men stepped forward one by one, bowed three times before the altar, and then lit a stick of incense which they left burning at the altar. Then they went to the hanfu-robed men, one by one, and murmured something that I couldn't catch, before bowing three times before each of them, their heads touching the floor. I watched, mutely, wondering if all of that kowtowing made their knees hurt on the rough wooden floor.

When the initiates had all finished with their bowing ritual, the man in the blue hanfu gestured toward the door, and two monks carrying a large, heavy copper bowl and a third with a copper ladle entered the room, set the bowl down at Master Zhang's feet, and then bowed out of the room.

"This is the mouth cleaning water," the blue-clad man said. "After you have been purified by this water, you will be reborn as a member of the Qingbang, you will be one of us."

Once again, the white-robed initiates went one-by-one to take a drink from the copper ladle. I watched Lau as he took the copper ladle and tipped it up to his lips and drained it. I saw his Adams apple bob, and when he returned to his place there was the barest hint of a smile on his features. He looked, in many respects, smug. Eventually, this ritual finished as well.

Master Zhang stepped forward now, taking charge of the ceremony for the first time. "Do you, new disciples, agree to follow all of the rules of our ancient Qingbang society, over which you have been instructed these past months, that are designed to keep our solidarity of spirit?"

"Yes." The crowd of white-robed initiates gave their reply in unison.

"And do you agree to accept all punishment for transgressions - which may result in death, or in banishment, or some lighter punishment dependent on the crime, with a face that befits a member of the Qingbang?"

"Yes."

"Do you swear to never decieve your teachers, or disgrace your Qingbang ancestors?"

"Yes."

"Do you swear to respect your Qingbang elders, and to deal fairly with your Qingbang brothers?"

"Yes."

"Do you swear to keep all of the society's secrets, even from your families if need be?"

"Yes."

"And do you swear to uphold the virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and sincerity, and be a moral example for all of your Qingbang brothers?"

"Yes."

Master Zhang smiled. "Then, with these people whom you trust as witnesses, you are now members of the Qingbang." He gestured to another hanfu-clad man, this one in red. I realized that he had been at the dinner I had attended with Lau and Master Zhang - the one with the beard. "Now your may retrieve your scrolls from Master Shao."

Again one-by-one, the newly minted disciples exchanged red-wrapped parcels of money for a scroll carefully bound with red ribbon. I watched Lau as he took his. There was a glint in his eyes that I could only recognize as triumph.

It was the fourteenth day of the New Year's celebrations, and the day afterward would be the last. Lau was out to gamble with his Qingbang fellows. I stayed in our apartment above the Kunlun Trading Company offices, just resting before the lively day that was to come tomorrow. Festivities had never been this lively, back in the temple, or the little town in Anhui.

It was strange to think how far I had come, from then. I had not even thought that Lau liked me.

Whenever we traveled together, he held his arm around me, like a lover might. He gave me clothing that was more and more revealing every time. I was now fifteen, and I had nearly grown into my looks. It seemed preposterous to think that he didn't want me. But at the same time, he had never propositioned me.

It was almost insulting.

I sighed.

And jumped, as the door opened and Lau entered our shared rooms. I could feel my face growing hot, and was suddenly uncomfortably aware of myself. He was struggling with a long package wrapped in silk, strapped over his shoulder.

I moved forward to help him set the package on the floor. As I took it from him, I brushed against his shoulder.

It was uncomfortably warm.

"What is this?" I asked him

"I brought a present for you, Little Kitten," he said.

"I'm not that little," I said. "I'm fifteen now."

Lau chuckled. "Don't you want to know what it is, Little Kitten?" he asked.

I thought about belaboring the point, but let it drop. I knelt down and began untying the silk from around what turned out to be a wooden box. The silken wrapping slithered away when I untied them. I reached for the lid of the box and lifted it, peering inside curiously. Then I gasped.

"I had them made especially for you."

There were two matching chui, like Lihua had trained me with. But these were decorated at the ends with blue and white cloth stretched over the ends, and two tiny tassels dangling off of the end. I picked one up out of the box, and tested its weight. It was just as heavy as the ones Lihua owned, and I could feel the strain on my muscles.

I settled the chui back in the box, not wanting to drop it. And then I turned to Lau, a smile tugging at my lips. "Thank you," I said.

Lau had already drifted away. I set the chui aside for the moment, thinking that I would need to find a place to store them. But not now. I turned to Lau. He was lighting his opium pipe. I studied his features for a moment – his long neck, the long braid down his back, his eyes nearly fluttering shut.

"Do you think of me like a child?" I asked him.

"Hmm?" he asked.

"What do you see, when you look at me? A child, or a woman?" I demanded. "You call me Little Kitten, and you haven't touched me once—"

"I see you," Lau said.

I stopped speaking. And then I took a deep breath, to steady myself, as I made a split second decision. Part of my mind was telling me that I might regret this, but I pushed that aside. I crossed the room to Lau.

"Then you won't mind if I do this," I said. I straddled his reclining body, pushed his opium pipe away, and kissed him. His lips tasted syrupy sweet, with what I realized was opium poppy. He kissed back lazily.

"Well, this is unexpected, Little Kitten," he said.

"I'm not that little," I said. I began undoing the clasps of my qipao.

Lau chuckled. "I suppose not," he said.


	3. Chapter 3

London, 1889

I lay on Lau's chest, his hands resting on my hipbones. The familiar furnishings of my room lay around us - the screened windows, the tiny bits of jewelry, and an eclectic mix of Chinese and European architecture, all lit by fading sunlight and a single candle. It was unspoken, but I think that Lau wanted his privacy with me.

In case I died.

I did not think that I would die, but that was always a possibility. Many people who I knew had died, and I had killed some of them myself. That death was not waiting for me was a preposterous thing to think.

But not today, I thought. I pressed my lips against the collar of Lau's tangzhuang suit. I could feel his pulse thrumming underneath my lips.

He shifted underneath me. I could feel every muscle, it seemed, as he just barely stretched.

After a while, one of his hands left my hipbone, and the heat of his palm against my qipao cooled with the absence. He groped around, searching for something with his fingers, his eyes heavy-lidded and closed.

I deftly reached out and grabbed his pipe.

"Thank you," he murmured quietly, taking the pipe from between my fingers. I let it go slowly, and he began to heat the end over the candle that was set beside my bed, lit even though it was daytime. When it was ready, he slipped the end of the pipe between his teeth and took a long draw.

I leaned forward, ignoring the pipe, which Lau moved out of the way, and sealed my lips over his. He opened his mouth, and I drew in a long breath. I could taste the opium, sticky sweet and filling my mouth, coating my teeth and tongue.

Lau smiled at me lazily.

The sun had set and the sky had grown dark when we left my room, extinguishing the candle and Lau's pipe as we did. The boy-Earl was already waiting for us, his butler like a shadow behind him, especially in the black streets.

"You're late," he said to Lau, his tone crisp.

Lau smiled. "Sorry, sorry," he said. He did not sound very sorry, but the Earl dropped it. Lau smiled at him. "What do you need me for?" he asked.

"We're going to see the Undertaker," Earl Phanthomhive responded curtly. He gestured to a carriage behind him. Even with its way lit by two lamps, it still looked ominous in the dark night. The young butler opened the door of the carriage courteously.

Ciel got in first, and Lau and I walked slowly over to the carriage, his arm around my waist - tighter than normal. I could feel my heartbeat in my throat. Just before I stepped into the carriage, I looked around - imagining that I might see a lurking figure in the darkness. But I could not. I took my seat in the carriage.

Sebastian shut the door and took his place at the front, driving the horses. The carriage started forward suddenly.

Lau was looking around at the dark lining of the carriage, barely lit by a flickering lantern hanging from the ceiling. It looked black, but I guessed that it was dark blue. "Silk?" he remarked. "Unusual choice."

Ciel laughed, amused by this. "Your company supplied it," he said.

"Oh?" Lau said. He looked around once more, stroking the silk slightly with his hand. "It's very good silk," he said. He fell silent, and began to stare out the windows of the carriage into the black London night. I scanned the streets alongside him, but I could see very little that was not lit by the lights lining the main streets. "Are you sure the young butler knows what he's doing?" Lau asked.

"Sebastian is perfectly capable," Ciel said waspishly. "You were the one who asked us to help you with this mess in the first place."

"Right, right," Lau said absently. But his hand felt hot against my waist, and when I looked I could see his pulse thrumming in his neck.

He was nervous, I realized suddenly and with alarm. I shifted in closer to him, suddenly unsure of what to do. Lau did not seem to mind this.

The carriage ride passed in tense silence, though it was a short way to the Undertaker's grim shop. I had not been here before, but the squat building lit by lantern light seemed uninviting. Even outside the shop, I could smell the acrid scent of the embalming fluids. I wrinkled my nose.

A smiling man opened the door at Sebastian's knock, leaning against the door frame and waving us inside with a thin scalpel clenched forgotten between his fingers. His grin was manic, and the only feature on his face that was not obscured by long white bangs. He did not look old, and I wondered if he were naturally gray, or if the chemicals that he worked with had changed his hair over time.

I followed Lau inside, and the acrid scent that had been distasteful outside was full overwhelming inside. I could feel it burning over my throat and into my lungs, and nearly choked over it.

"Earl," the Undertaker said, still waving his scalpel around. "It's been so long. You're well then? Don't want to try out some of the merchandise? I have all different sizes."

He gestured to a line of coffins along the opposite wall, some of them half-finished, in, as the Undertaker had said, all different sizes.

"No thank you," Ciel said.

"And how about the pretty lady? She looks like some of my customers lately. I bet she would like one of these." He looked straight at me began to laugh - a wheezing laugh that tore through his teeth.

My eyes flickered to Lau, and then back to the white-haired Undertaker. "No," I said. I shook my head.

"So you have seen the Chinese deaths lately," Ciel said. "Anything unusual about them?"

The Undertaker laughed. "I have, I have," he said. "All pretty girls, just like this one." He sauntered up to me, and the smell of chemicals and death got stronger as he approached. I shrunk back, thinking about how he was laughing - about the deaths of girls that I had known. I shuddered. The Undertaker only seemed to find this more amusing. "All strangled, but they had blood in their hair. I had to wash it out." He wheezed in amusement. "But you know that already, don't you, Earl? Your butler told you that."

"And is there anything else that you can tell me?" Ciel asked, obviously unperturbed by this man.

"I require," the Undertaker said, wheezing and amused, "the usual price for information."

I turned to Lau. It was easy enough to pretend that I was disturbed, because it was not much of an act. "Gege," I said quietly in Chinese. "I don't want to be here anymore."

Lau looked at me, for a long moment, and then he smiled. "Ah, Earl," he said. "I'd like to send Ranmao back."

Ciel turned toward us sharply. "Send her back?" he demanded.

Lau nodded. "She's delicate," he said. "I didn't realize that the shop would be this gruesome." He looked around at the implementations of the shop.

Ciel looked vaguely incredulous at this statement, but let it slide. "I can't spare Sebastian to drive her back," he said. "She'll have to hire a coach."

Lau turned to me, and spoke in Chinese, "Can you be in a coach all by yourself?" he asked. "I'll hire you a nice one."

The patronizing tone grated on me, but I supposed he had a good reason for it. "Yes," I said.

Lau nodded and turned back to Ciel. "That's fine," he said.

Ciel turned to the young butler. "Sebastian, find her a coach," he said. "And then come back straight away. I need you."

Sebastian bowed. "Yes, my Lord," he said. He turned to me. "Right this way, my Lady."

I followed him out into the black night, and he led the way down the street to where a carriage was waiting for us. I hoped that this would not look suspicious. Sebastian paid the driver and saw me inside, closing the door of the carriage behind me. With the carriage door shut, I reached out, until I felt sturdy wood bars beneath my fingers.

We clopped through the streets of London, back toward the East End. I sat there, alone and in the dark, waiting, poised. I breathed in and out slowly, as Lihua had taught me years ago, gaining control of myself. I only hoped that this would work.

The carriage pulled to a stop suddenly, and there was a cut-off cry from the driver. My eyes widened, and I lifted the wooden pole in my hand. The end of my mace glittered in the flickering lamp light - decorated and deadly.

The door to the carriage creaked open and I leaped out - straight into a shower of colorful sparks and smoke. I danced aside, flash-blind, unable to see beyond the glow of the firework, the outlines of shadowy figures barely visible.

It took me a moment to realize that I had nearly stepped on a firework, and that there were more going off beside me, filling the air with blinding sparks. I raised my maces slowly, ready to attack at any stray sound - but the fireworks obscured that as well.

Pain flared in my head, and I realized that I had been hit at the back of my head. I swung my mace back, and hit - something soft, that made my attacker cry out. But I was already feeling dizzy. Perhaps I had been hit harder than I thought.

A young Chinese man stepped into the light, and I frowned. Something wasn't right, I thought.

The young man was laughing. "Did you think we would forget your claws, little kitty?" he asked.

As consciousness left me, I realized what was wrong. He wasn't supposed to be so young.

China, 1882

When it wasn't raining, Shanghai in the summer was miserably hot. The rain was not much better. Torrential rainstorms tore through the coastline, soaking the city. If they cleared off early enough the day was pleasantly cool, but normally the rain lasted through the day.

The appearance of summer meant that it had been a year since Lau had brought me to Shanghai, half a year since he had joined the Qingbang, and that I was nearly sixteen.

Lau was at the Qingbang's beck and call, and we found ourselves often prevailing upon Ying to prepare large dinners for important officials who we did not know, in order to present bribes. Some of these officials who we entertained were Chinese, but more often than not they were foreign. At first we had an interpreter, but Lau picked up English and French almost effortlessly. His Russian was already impeccable.

More often than not, I found myself lost among these conversations. French fell heavy on my tongue, near unpronounceable, and English was not any better, and the chances to practice were minimal. I was never expected to speak, so even if I had some comment prepared, it would have lost face to use it.

Instead, I learned the art of speaking with my body and my eyes. I was beginning to develop a full figure that would have made me one of the top girls at the brothel. My training with Lihua only enhanced this.

Lau knew this - perhaps better than any other man. He used it mercilessly to his advantage. My wardrobe became progressively more scandalous over that year.

I knew that Lau did other things with the Qingbang, but these meetings to exchange graft were the only ones that I participated in. My activities otherwise consisted of meeting for training with Lihua - which she insisted on even in the worst heat of summer - and spending my time with Lau.

And then in late summer, Master Zhang suggested strongly that Lau take a large interest in his family's company, and we traveled to Xi'an.

Xi'an was as different from Shanghai as the little town in Anhui was. This was an old city, one that had stood for thousands of years. Summer mist hung over the city like a beard, cloaking the face of its master from showing its true age. The buildings here were all tile-roofed, sloping Chinese architecture that made a mosaic from above. We approached the city on horseback, and were admitted through its great gates.

Inside the walls, Xi'an was a lively city. People passed to and fro about their daily business, not taking much notice of us.

I took quite a bit of notice of the people though.

"What are you staring at, Little Kitten?" Lau asked me.

I looked around, wondering what exactly I was marveling at. And then I said, "There are no foreigners." I was amazed that I had noticed that lack, even subconsciously. Shanghai, overrun with foreigners, seemed to have made its impression on me.

Lau nodded. "There aren't, are there?" he said.

We found our way to an expansive mansion, where we were admitted readily, and joined by Lau's family - his mother and father, both sporting gray in their hair and lines across their faces. It was strange to see them. Strange to see how normal they looked. Not that Lau looked particularly strange - with his long braided hair and Manchurian suit, he could have been from anywhere - but there was a certain mannerism about him that I expected to see copied in his parents.

We sat down to tea. It was a light brew, with a very experimental hint of orange. I liked it.

"It's good to have you home, son," Lau's mother said, embracing him easily and with a smile. "I don't suppose you've come home to tell me you're getting married." Her gaze flickered to me, and I knew immediately that she knew who and what I was, and that she disapproved. I swallowed.

Lau shook his head, and his braid swung to and fro behind his back. "Not today."

Lau's mother sighed, but dropped the subject. "Ying has told us something of your adventures in Shanghai."

Lau chuckled. "Adventures?" he asked.

"Adventures indeed," his father cut in, gesturing with his tea cup. "We've been told that you took up with the wrong side of the law."

Lau smiled down at his own tea cup. He lifted it to his lips and took a long sip. "Not at all," he said smoothly. "I've just been looking into some of Shanghai's business opportunities."

"Business opportunities?" Lau's father said. He looked at his son with a shrewd expression, the corners of his mouth pinched. I saw something of Lau in that expression. "You mean opium."

"Sometimes," Lau admitted. "It's very popular with the foreign market. I could probably expand your business, father."

A frown crossed Lau's father's face. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Give me administration of the Shanghai branch of the Kunlun Company," Lau said. He lay his hands out on the table as he presented his true purpose. "I can expand into the foreign shipping markets."

Lau's parents exchanged a significant look, and then Lau's father turned back to his son. There was that same shrewd look on his long face that reminded me of Lau. "I'll give you administration of the Shanghai district," he said slowly. "If you do something to ease your parents burdens."

Lau smiled serenely. "Alright," he said. He thought for a moment. "I know. I can't administrate it for you, but I can open up another trade route to make things easier for you. How about I get you the Kunlun mountain pass? That will make things easier on you."

Lau's mother set her tea cup down hard on the table. "Your father meant that you should get married," she said. "He can't just dally with opium and prostitutes—" I flinched, and looked at my tea cup.

Lau's father held up a hand, and though his mother looked like she might go on, she paused. "Let him," Lau's father said. I knew from his tone that he thought this task impossible. He looked at Lau, a smile at the edge of his lips. "And if you can't do that, then come here, and we shall discuss handing Shanghai over to you."

"Of course," Lau said obsequiously.

—

We did not stay with Lau's parents in Xi'an, although they prevailed upon him to stay. The thought that I might stay as well had apparently not crossed their minds, but I had no doubt that Lau would have made it clear that I came with the deal if he had any intention of resting there for the night.

"You don't seem very filial," I observed, when we were on our way to find an inn.

Lau chuckled darkly.

"Your father seemed to think opening the mountain pass was impossible," I said.

"Not impossible," Lau said. "Just difficult."

"Why doesn't he do it himself, then?" I asked.

"Because he doesn't have what I have."

"And what's that?"

Lau's eyes slit open, and he fixed me with his gaze. He reached out, and caressed my chin with his fingers. I drew in a shuddering breath.

"You."

I looked at him, puzzled. "Me?"

"You're my trump card, little kitten." His smile widened across his face. "We're going to Kunlun Temple."

I looked down at my hands on my lap. We were going back to my home temple. After I had finally figured out how I could serve Lau. It seemed unfair.

After a long time, I asked, "And if you don't manage to open the mountain pass, you'll get married? Like your mothers wants you to?"

Lau looked at me quizzically. "Hmm?" he asked. I realized that the possibility of failure had never even occurred to him.

"Nevermind," I said.

Lau smiled at me, amused. "Don't worry, kitten," he said. "I won't love you any less." And he leaned in to kiss my lips. He tasted of poppy syrup.

—

The road from Xi'an to Kunlun was a long one. We took a riverboat up the Wei River to where it fed into the Yellow River, and followed that until the river became too narrow for river boats, and then bought horses to follow the river up into the Kunlun Mountains.

Though I was not normally talkative, I became even more reticent during our journey. Though I knew that I had not journeyed this way when the temple had sold me, every rock and tree and turn in the path seemed to be born out of some half-remembered dream.

"I don't understand why this is so important," I told Lau as we rode. "Your company is already doing well enough."

Lau smiled at me. "It's much easier to trade with India, though these mountains," he said. "But they're difficult to pass through. They're part of the highest mountain range in the world."

"The Kunlun temple isn't very large," I said. "It's a dying sect."

"But they're know the mountains," Lau countered me. "Better than we do."

"Why did your grandfather name the company Kunlun, anyway?" I asked him sharply. "If you can't even get through the mountains?"

Lau shrugged with a rolling of his shoulders. "No idea," he said chirpily. My eyes flickered toward the two decorative maces attached to my saddle with a brief longing, and then I kicked my horse forward.

Eventually, the terrain was too difficult for even our horses, but we were close. We stopped in a village that I remembered, sold the horses and bought yaks. We only had to go about a day and a half's journey up into the mountains, but even then, we were operating off of local rumor and my own faulty memory. Kunlun had always been a secretive sect.

There was no inn in the town where we had stopped to buy the yaks, but an older man was willing to put us up in his house for the night for a fee. He was not a talkative man, and he showed us to our beds and gave us our meal with a terse few words. Other than that, he gave Lau a little bit of advice.

"I know that you're going up into the mountains tomorrow," he said, looking at Lau with a scrutinizing eye. "You might not want to smoke. This high up, it will do funny things to your head."

Lau merely nodded compliantly. I wondered what it might be like to deal with him sober - although I sincerely wondered if even three days away from his pipe would accomplish that.

We started on dinner then.

Lau spoke first. "I thought that I would talk to you about your debt, Little Kitten," he said.

I swallowed soup too fast, and it burned my throat. When I had finished coughing, I asked, "What?"

"Your debt," he said. "That I bought."

I blinked at him. What did he want to talk about that for?

"I think," he continued, "that, if you can convince the Kunlun for me, it will bring in a lot of revenue for the Kunlun Trading Company. And for me." He sat back, as though that settled everything.

And looked at him. "And?"

"And?" he asked.

"And what does the revenue that convincing Kunlun will bring have to do with my debt?"

"Oh," Lau said. "Yes, well, along with the other services you have been performing-" his eyes cracked open in an expression of amusement, and I knew that he was speaking of our casual physical intimacy "-should about cover it. If you can convince them for me, you're paid up."

I gaped at Lau, suddenly unable to comprehend anything. He was typically oblivious to my reaction, calmly sipping at his own soup. My mind raced. He was setting me free? He was going to let me go home?

My throat felt suddenly tight.

When I turned to my soup, it was cool enough to eat without burning my mouth.

We started up into the mountains early the next morning. It was slow going. Where there were paths at all, they were ill-marked and washed out, so that a lot of guesswork went into our journey. As we went, however, my memories began to come back more and more.

I had gathered herbs over in that clearing there. We had come to train in that grove of trees. I had walked this path, on my last journey down the mountain - when they had meant to sell me.

I shrugged off that thought with vehemence. If I could convince the leadership of Kunlun to form an arrangement with Lau's company, I would be going home. I held onto that thought fiercely as I led the way through the mountain passes.

Taking our host's advice, Lau had smoked no opium today, but he seemed no different than usual. Of course, we had not talked much - there was not much margin for error on these paths that were sometimes no wider than the yaks, although they always deftly navigated the sharp cliff faces. I looked back at him. He was sweating more than usual.

We set up a camp for the night, ate a quick dinner and then went to sleep without much talking. It was strange, I thought, not to see Lau light up an opium pipe right after we had eaten - if not before. But instead he went straight to his bed. I bit my lip as he did so, and thought about joining him.

It was… strange, to think that I might not see him anymore after this.

I did not sleep well that night. The silence of the mountains was in my ears, and I could not get rid of it. I tried to remember another night with silence like this. The brothel had always had people in and out at all hours. Shanghai was never silent - even if Lau wasn't meeting with the Qingbang in the middle of the night, people were always about on the street. Even on the journey here, it had never seemed so silent.

I shook it off. I would get used to it, once I was back at the temple.

We woke early in the morning and set off again, much as we had the day before. The trails and the landmarks began to get more and more familiar. And then the temple was suddenly there. The noon sun had boiled off much of the fog cover, and there the temple sat, perched atop the cliff face high above.

Lau looked straight up at it. "Hmm," he said, looking at the cliff face.

"We'll go around the back side of the mountain," I said. "It's easier that way."

Lau smiled at me and nodded without complaint. Skilled masters of the Kunlun Skill could scale the almost-sheer face, and while I had reasonable faith that I might have been able to accomplish it, Lau was no master of Kunlun Skill - or whatever bastardized Huashan Skill Lihua had taught me.

The temple disappeared around the back of the mountain, but signs of it were everywhere. Stone markers, inscribed with Taoist scripture, made the path up to the temple clear to anyone who might have persevered to this point. We followed them up, leading our yaks slowly up the craggy path. It was easier than the sheer cliff face, but not by much, and the lack of dense forest made the craggy rocks prone to slide.

Eventually, the path wound around to the other side of the mountain and we were standing in front of the gates of the temple.

The temple had not noticeably changed in all of the time that I was gone, but I had not expected it to. The gates still opened onto a large courtyard, where a group of male apprentices were practicing their kung fu under the watchful eye of a master. When we entered the temple, the master called a halt to the practice, and all of the apprentices turned to face us as he came to greet us.

I scanned the crowd. They looked a little older than me - perhaps nearing twenty - but I thought maybe I recognized some faces.

The monk - dressed in white robes - neared us and turned to Lau first, looking at him with a wary expression. "You have traveled a long way," he said. "How may we help you?"

"I wanted to talk to your elders," Lau said pleasantly. "And I'm here to return something you may have discarded."

The monk looked puzzled at this last, but said, "The elders are currently at their studies. But I can ask them if they will see you."

Lau nodded and bowed.

"How shall I introduce you?" the monk asked.

"I am called Lau, and this is Ranmao," Lau said.

The monk frowned at this, his eyes flickered to my face, but he gave an order that the second apprentice continue with the practice, and then entered the temple. My lips suddenly felt dry and I couldn't breathe. We had to convince these monks to help guide caravans from the Kunlun Trading Company through the treacherous mountain passes.

And if we did…

I brushed the thought aside. I reminded myself that we could still fail, and I would still be in Lau's debt. Nothing was certain.

But here, among the mountain air, with the apprentices surrounding me and the cut flagstones under my feet, standing where I'd thought I would never stand again… it was like something out of a hazy dream, like I had breathed in too much opium smoke and gone to sleep. I took a deep breath. There was no need to work myself up.

The doors to the temple opened once again, and three elderly men walked out, the monk who had greeted us right behind. I frowned to myself. Hadn't Kunlun had four elders?

They approached us slowly and steadily, unconcerned by worldly matters like time. Shi Xing Heng The eldest among them - whose hair was not streaked with silver but was almost entirely gray - stepped forward and nodded to us. We bowed to him.

"Baoguo tells me that you are called Lau," Shi Xing Heng said, "and that your companion is named Ranmao." He looked at me, and for a moment I could feel his eyes scrutinizing me. I blushed and looked down. He turned his attention on Lau. "Why have you come to this temple?"

Lau seemed unperturbed by the elder's accusatory tone. "Your people know these mountains," he said calmly. "They know all of the passages. It would help the Kunlun Trading Company, if you would guide us through the mountains - for a modest fee."

Shi Xing Heng scowled. "Why should the great Kunlun Sect care about the likes of you?"

I stepped forward, and bowed. "Excuse me," I said. "I would like to vouch for this man. You may not remember me, but long ago I was a young girl named Ranmao in this temple. I have not stopped practicing the temple arts-"

"I know who you are," Shi Xing Heng replied callously. I stopped talking in shock. "You are the girl who became a prostitute."

"Yes," I agreed, shock suddenly overwhelmed by indignation. "But not because-"

"And you have taken customers?"

I stared at him, bewildered. "I did. But why…?"

"Then we have nothing left to do with you."

He turned away.

I stared at him open-mouthed. How could he say that? After I had come all the way here! "But the temple sold me!" I cried. "I didn't want to be a prostitute, but you sold me, because Kunlun needed the money. I'm willing to bet Kunlun still needs the money, and yet you refuse! Is it because I am with him? I haven't given up practicing what Kunlun Sect has taught me, and I have expanded my knowledge, and you still think that because I did what you forced me to do, that I'm worthless!"

Shi Xing Heng turned back around, to look me in the eyes. All of the anger was boiling inside of me, heating up my insides.

"You're a sanctimonious, hypocritical old man!" I snapped. "Kunlun Sect is in its decline, and you won't even accept help!"

Shi Xing Heng pressed his lips together into a thin, brittle line. "Fine," he said. "If you can prove to me that you have kept the skills, if not the values, of Kunlun Sect, I will trade with this man. But you will never defame this temple with your presence again."

Defame? I wanted to scream at him. Instead, I said, "Fine."

"Clear the courtyard," he warned the others. "I will fight her."

All of the apprentice monks stepped back, clearing a wide open space. Lau stepped back with them, his orange brocade standing out among the white of the monks clothing. He was smiling, and looked genuinely amused.

I put him out of my mind. Shi Xing Heng was already approaching me. He walked at the same steady pace with which he had left the temple, but there was something more predatory about his motions.

My hand trembled, but I steadied it with a breath. Lihua had taught me well. My mind was clear through the anger.

But Shi Xing Heng was a master.

I attacked, still wary of him. He defended so quickly that I could not even see him. Everywhere that I thought to strike, his hands and legs were there to block me. And then with a one-palm strike to my chest, he sent me stumbling back across the courtyard.

I caught my balance. Still shaking. I took another deep breath.

I could not hesitate when I attacked. My fear would only hurt me in this fight.

I struck again, this time faster, more ruthless. Aiming for more vital points. He blocked me once again, hands moving before I could see them. But I was faster now, and Shi Xing Heng knew none of the Huashan that Lihua had taught me. He moved to strike me, and I counterattacked, pressing down with my open palms. I hit his collar bone.

He didn't move. I stopped in surprise for a moment.

He sent me stumbling again, this time with an attack to my ribs. For a moment, my vision swam. I realized that, as I was, I did not have the strength necessary to do any damage with my moves.

I needed my maces.

I took another deep breath. It burned, deep in my lungs. I wondered if that was the altitude, or because my ribs had just been attacked.

"Master Shi Xing Heng," I said. "Could I also prove to you my skill with weapons?"

Shi Xing Heng looked at me contemptuously, but he nodded. "That is acceptable," he said.

I nodded curtly, and found my way over to our oxen. I detached the decorative maces from my ox's pack, giving them a few experimental twirls. They felt no different than they had in Xi'an.

The apprentice monks muttered among themselves in amazement. Shi Xing Heng looked impressed in spite of himself. The chui were too heavy for most martial artists to use as an everyday weapon, I remembered. I was suddenly glad that Lihua had insisted that I train with these. If I could just get one hit, I could turn this fight.

I returned to face Shi Xing Heng. "I'm ready now," I said.

He nodded to me and faced me, still as calm as he had been.

I whirled one of the chui about my wrist once, watching the colorful threads decorating the metal flash by in the sunlight. Shi Xing Heng turned toward me, his look level.

He attacked. I realized in an instant that he had been holding back. But the chui were a formidable force to be reckoned against, and I could swing them about with ease. It was none of the quick blows and feints of earlier - it was a clash. Both of us knew that we had to end things quickly, and Shi Xing Heng was done toying with me.

I got in one hit, before a hand to my collarbone dropped me. I buckled, and dropped the chui. They chipped the stone floor of the temple when they fell. For a moment, I just lay there, all of my exertion in the mountain air felling me. I tried to breathe slowly, but my lungs didn't even seem to handle shallow breaths.

Shi Xing Heng spoke above me. "We'll accept your proposal," he said. "If only because she used to be one of us. But you must not return here."

Lau said something in reply, about working out the details.

Shi Xing Heng replied to this, and then he said, "She is going to pass out, after the blow that I struck. I will send initiates with you, to bring her down the mountain."

I gulped in air, trying to stave off the inevitable. I wasn't going to let Shi Xing Heng win, not after his earlier words. But I could not breathe, and my vision darkened at the edges. I saw bright, starry dots behind my eyes right before I lost consciousness.

—

I woke up groggy, to the sight of hewn wood beams above my head. The pattern of their grains and knots swam in my head before I realized that I was looking at the ceiling of our room at the inn. I drew in a deep breath, and to my immense relief, I found that I could breathe. I also breathed in the insistent, cloying fog of opium.

I spent a moment enjoying the simple act of drawing air into my lungs - clouded air though it was - before curiosity about my surroundings overcame me. I sat up, and sure enough I found Lau. He was sitting across the tiny room, pipe pressed between his lips. Smoke curled from the end and up into the wood beams overhead.

My mouth felt dry and tasted sweet. I licked my lips.

Lau gestured with his pipe, toward my right. I turned and found a cup full to the brim with amber-colored tea sitting on the floor. I picked it up and drained it - it had gone cold, and was a weak brew, but it cleared the taste from my mouth.

"It's good to see you awake, Little Kitten," Lau said. He smiled, and then paused. "Though I suppose you aren't much of a kitten anymore." I opened my mouth, unsure of what to say. Lau settled his pipe against his lips, his look serene. "You fulfilled your promise to me," he said mildly. "I suppose that means you've paid your debt."

My stomach seemed to drop out from under me. I suddenly felt like I was back on that mountain, gasping for air.

"You're not my bauble anymore."

The enormity of that statement hit me, not with joy, but with emptiness. Kunlun had abandoned me, and if Lau was done with me I was adrift in the wind. Abruptly, and to my shame, I began to cry.

I sobbed until my eyes were swollen and ruddy and my head started to ache, as I realized that I had lost a lifetime's worth of hoping for a place in life that didn't even want me. I sobbed as I realized that I had grown attached enough to Lau, that his giving me up hurt.

Lau drew another long breath from his still-smoking pipe. "Of course," he said, as if just thinking of it, "just because your debt is gone doesn't mean I don't have a use for you."

I took deep breaths to quell my sobs. Lau waited in silence for the time that it took, to quiet myself. The sobs abated finally, but no matter how many times I wiped my eyes, the tears would not stop.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked. My voice sounded wet and pitiful.

"Hmm," Lau said. I wondered if he even knew what to do with me. "I know!" he said. "I'll make you my sworn sister!"

This was so unexpected, so contrary to whatever I had expected, that I just stared at him for a moment. I glanced suspiciously at his pipe. "Has the opium got to you?" I asked.

Lau looked unexpectedly hurt. "Do you not want to?"

I shook my head. "That's not what I meant," I said. "But why… why me?" I asked. "I'll never be marriageable, I'm just a whore with feet that are too big. So why…?"

"And you think that that is all you are worth?"

I shrunk back at his harsh tone. His eyes were halfway open, and it seemed like there were deep shadows in his face that made it look sharper than normal. "No…" I said tentatively.

"That's better," Lau said. His normal joviality was back. "Then, do you want to?"

I bit my lip. "Sure," I said.

"Good," he said. "You're my sworn sister now. And I'm your sworn brother."

I stared at him for a moment, at how quickly and easily he had said it. "I… thought it might be a little more complicated than that," I said.

"Hmm?" Lau asked. "How so?"

"Like we would swear to something, or take an oath."

Lau looked genuinely surprised. "An oath to what?"

I shrugged my shoulders awkwardly. "Buddha, or Heaven, or… I guess it doesn't matter."

Lau nodded, and took a long draw from his opium pipe. And then he thoughtfully removed it from his mouth and looked at me. I fidgeted. He held out the pipe.

"Here," he said. "This will make you feel better, meimei."

I reached out and took the pipe from his hands. Slowly, I wrapped my lips and teeth around the very end and breathed in slowly, bracing myself for a shock. Instead, it was subtle, almost like drinking a thick fruit juice - overwhelmingly sweet and pervasively powerful but smooth. I sighed out, the opium smoke expelling from my lips. The effect of the drug was not immediately apparent, but I felt lighter and the colors of the room became more vivid. It buzzed through me like a warmth, like I was surrounded by the finest wool blanket, and sometimes a sensation - a color, a touch, a sound - would strike me with a jolt of pure pleasure that soon faded back into the overall warmth.

Perhaps I was just being silly, perhaps it was the high, but Lau sharing his opium pipe with me for the very first time and my new nickname felt more like a ritual than any oath we might take.

Shanghai was nearly as we had left it, although autumn had tempered the weather into a bearable chill. We returned immediately to the Kunlun offices to find that news of our conquest had proceeded us. Ying was waiting for us in the courtyard, his expression as sour as if he had just swallowed a lemon whole.

Lau approached him with a jovial smile. "Hello," he said.

Ying held out his hand. I realized that it held a ring of keys. "Here," he said. "These are for the office, and all of the documents. They're all organized."

Lau took the keys, and shook them. They made a jingling sound. "Thank you," he said. Ying looked agrier than he had at Lau's flippant tone.

"You and your whore are going to run this business into the ground," Ying said. I clenched my jaw at the insult. "You'll need someone like me sooner or later, and I'll be gone. I got good marks on the examinations. To be dismissed like this…"

Lau nodded genially. "Who said I'm dismissing you?"

Ying went white. He clenched his hands. "I recieved a letter from your father, saying that you were to be in charge of the Shanghai branch."

Lau continued to nod. "That's true," he said. "But running the business sounds so boring. Why don't you run it, and I'll be in charge?"

Ying's color began to return to his face, along with an angry red tinge. He spluttered for a moment, and I was unsure if he was going to reject Lau's offer. Instead, he snapped, "Fine," and stormed off.

I spun around when I heard a hearty laugh from behind us, and fell into a crouch. It was Tianfeng, who was laughing. I did not move from my crouch. Something about Tianfeng always set me on edge.

"Congratulations, Lau," he said, still laughing. There was an edge to it though. "You've simultaneously insulted his profession and humiliated him."

"Hmm?" Lau asked.

Tianfeng grinned. "You said you're a tiger?" he asked. "It seems to suit you, the way you pounced on him with a smile. How about Grinning Tiger of Shanghai, hmm? That sounds like a good name." I scowled. It sounded like he was mocking Lau.

"Oh, that sounds fancy," Lau said. "It's a good name." He chuckled under his breath. "So why the visit?" he asked.

"Master Zhang wants to see you, now that you're back."

Tianfeng left, and we hired a rickshaw to see Tianfeng. I sat beside Lau, still disconcerted by the earlier encounter.

"Why do you let him mock you like that, gege?" I asked.

Lau settled a hand around my shoulders. "Because it's fun, meimei," he said. "He thinks that he's winning."

"Is it a contest?" I asked.

"It might be," Lau replied.


	4. Chapter 4

London, 1889

Consciousness returned to me slowly. My head pounded, and it ached where I had been struck. I tried to raise my hands to touch the wound, but found that ropes around my arms prevented me from moving my arms very far. There were ropes around my wrists and legs as well, preventing me from moving. It was damp and cold and dark and uncomfortable. I could not make out much about my surroundings.

I struggled against the ropes. They were tied too tightly, and the knots were out of my reach. My struggling accomplished nothing more than catching the attention of the others.

"Good, you're awake, a man's voice said. I scanned in front of me, until someone held up a lantern, and then I could see the face of the man who had abducted me. He was young - perhaps younger than me, and I was only in my twenty-first year. He must have only been fifteen or sixteen when we left China, to look so young now.

"Good evening," the man said to me. "My name is Pengfei."

I studied his slim body. He was dressed in a black tangzhuang suit. He held a silken cord in his hand. "You're the dragon. The one who has been killing girls."

He nodded. "Yes," he said. "I am. And after I kill you, I plan to go back to my plan." I raised one eyebrow at him, in a silent question. He chuckled. "I promised myself that I would take everything that Lau holds dear from him."

I shook my head. "That won't work," I said.

"What won't work?" he asked.

"Killing girls. It won't work."

"Oh, I know," Pengfei said. "Though he protects them, I know that in the long run they are nothing more than pawns to him. But the British know well enough that he is the unnoficial lord of the Chinese here. If I draw enough attention to my actions, if I prove myself a threat, the tenuous peace he has made with Scotland Yard will fall apart. He will lose everything that he has built here. You have already seen it. As soon as I stop killing immigrants and move onto bigger prey, it will happen."

I stayed silent, my gaze drilling into the darkness, as I listened furiously to his words. I could barely make out anything - only a tiny flickering in the distance, the type that might come from a candle. I could only make a guess as to what that might be. Pengfei continued.

"But you are much more than a pawn to him. You are the girl he called sister. And you were there, that day, weren't you? The day that they killed my brother. How could I resist you, traveling alone in that carriage? You should have been more careful."

"Brother?" I asked slowly.

"Yes," he said. "Tianfeng was my brother. So it is only fitting that I should take the life of his killer's sister."

I stared into the darkness, willing my guess to be right.

"Speechless?" he asked. He stalked toward me, raising the silk cord in his hand. "Well, I suppose that it's time to kill you."

His steps echoed against the stone floor, along with another sound that I could barely make out. I took a deep breath.

"You're wrong."

"What?" Pengfei said. He continued stalking towards me, only a few feet away now.

"You're wrong. I didn't come alone."

He spun around, searching the darkness for the intruder. But he was as blind to what was beyond the darkness as I was. I, however, didn't bother searching any longer. "Who's there?" Peifeng demanded in Chinese. And then again in English. "Who's there?" The whispers of a chuckling laugh reached my ears.

"Well, there you have it, Sebastian," the crisp, aristocratic accent of the young Earl rung out through the darkness. "He plans to capture and kill British citizens, as well as Chinese immigrants. I believe that these are grounds enough to stop him."

"It seems so, my Lord."

"Then, Sebastian, this is an order. Bring him in at all costs."

The young butler stepped into the circle of lamplight. His crimson eyes seemed to be glowing in the dimness, and there was a hint of a smirk on his face. Peifeng backed up slowly, trembling. There was something about the young butler's presence at times like these that made me want to tremble as well.

Peifeng grabbed me roughly around the shoulders, and stood me up. I felt the silk cord wrap around my neck.

"Come a step closer, and I'll kill her!" he shouted.

I took a moment to admire the irony of the situation.

Sebastian stopped in his approach. I met the eyes of the young butler. His crimson eyes were darting everywhere, making minute calculations. There was an unconcerned look in his eyes.

He was only here to take in Peifeng. I did not think that he cared that much about my own welfare.

Well, I thought, I would just have to care for my welfare myself. The ropes made moving hard, but not impossible. I took a deep breath, and threw my weight forward.

Peifeng cursed and toppled over. I felt the silk cord dig into my neck, and then I hit the ground. We struggled for only a few moments, and then I was free from the cord. I realized that Sebastian had made his attack, although Peifeng was quickly responding. I rolled out of the way.

I felt a hand against my shoulder, and then my bonds were cut away and my arms were free.

"Are you alright, meimei?"

"Lau?" I asked.

He came around to my front, a knife between his nimble fingers, a smile on his lips. He cut away the bonds on my wrists and ankles. I stood unsteadily.

"Let's let the young butler handle this," Lau suggested.

I nodded.

Lau took a cross-legged seat on the floor. I settled myself on his lap, and he settled his arms about my waist, as we watched Sebastian at his work.

**Shanghai, 1884**

I slowly peeled an orange, working my nails underneath the pliable skin and then adding it to the growing pile on the table in front of me. The air smelled strongly of the fruit, of which I picked a wedge and settled it between my lips, my teeth squishing against the pulp, so that the sweet juice filled my mouth. The juice was not even a bit sour, an unexpected treat. I peeled off another wedge of the orange, and put it in my mouth.

The door to the apartment opened, and Lau entered.

"Good morning, meimei," he said to me, with a wave.

I smiled slightly at him. "Good morning," I said. I offered him a piece of the orange with an outstretched hand. Lau crossed the room to take it. I settled another piece between my lips.

"Shall we go for a walk, meimei?" he asked.

I nodded and stood, though I kept the tiny orange so that I could eat it on the way to wherever we were going. If we were going anywhere. Lau was fond of long walks without a perceivable point to them. Though it was always difficult to tell.

"Shall I bring my chui?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "No need," he said. I nodded, and merely joined him as we left the apartment to walk through the Shanghai streets.

It was a warm day, and I was actually glad that I was clad in more revealing clothes because they kept the heat off. I had grown more into my womanhood over the past two years, and I was a little more than conventionally attractive. My wardrobe always tended to make people stare, so this was nothing new.

Lau settled his arm about my waist as usual, the fabric of his orange tangzhuang stark against my black corset. The silk was heavy and too warm in the heat of summer. I wondered how Lau could stand the midsummer heat in such clothes. But as usual, he looked unperturbed.

"Are we going somewhere in particular?" I asked Lau, when he led us around a corner and onto the main street. Shanghai was bustling today, despite the heat. People were rushing everywhere, between offices and jobs and markets. The river lay before us, filled with riverboats jostling for a spot.

"Master Zhang wanted to see us."

I nodded. Although I had not grown more popular among the other women who were Lau's associates, but now that I was his sister, he would often take me with him to see Master Zhang. After Lau had procured the managership of the Kunlun Company for himself, he had used it as a front to smuggle salt and opium, and to spread the Qingbang's influence to previously unknown places. Lau seemed fine with this exploitation of his father's company - it was the reason he had taken interest in it in the first place, I supposed.

We hired a rickshaw on the main street, and quickly made our way to Master Zhang's house. We were ushered into the garden, and then to the same outdoor pavilion where I had first met Master Zhang. He looked much the same as he always had - ancient and shrewd. He was surrounded by other Qingbang members. He smiled at us when we approached.

"Pupil Lau. And lovely Ranmao."

We both bowed to him.

"Your efforts on our behalf have been very helpful, Lau," he said. "With your resources, you have done much for our brotherhood."

"Not at all," Lau said modestly. But I could see the edge of triumph in his smile.

"I wanted to speak with you about spreading our influence further," Master Zhang said. "Shanghai is such a cosmopolitan center, that it seems foolish not to expand our influence into the foreign market. America seems quite receptive to the opium trade, and is directly across the pacific. Of course England would be ideal, considering their empire, if we could carve out a sphere of influence."

"That sounds like a good idea," Lau said. "But I could never consider leaving China." He sighed dramatically. "I'm afraid that I love it too much. And what would I do without your beneficial instruction?"

"Of course," Master Zhang said, taken aback by Lau's obsequious refusal. "But if you happened to have any contacts in that sphere."

"Of course I will use them to the full advantage of our brotherhood," Lau said.

"Good," Master Zhang said. "Ah, here comes Tianfeng. He said that he had news…"

I looked out across the garden. In contrast to Master Zhang, Tianfeng had changed much over the past two years. He was slimmer, and there were more lines in his face and more gray in his beard. There was something more sour about his expression, too. I did not like him any better than I had.

He strode across the garden, trailed by two other Qingbang members and a young girl between them, whose hands were tied with heavy ropes. Bruises littered her arms and her legs, and there were likely more beneath her threadbare clothes. Behind her ill-cut hair and a gash across one cheek, she looked maybe fourteen or fifteen.

"And who is this, Tianfeng?" Master Zhang asked.

"This is the girl who's been stealing from us," he said, as the two Qingbang dragged her forward and thrust her down at Master Zhang's feet. The Master's face immediately went stony and cold. I shuddered at that look in his eyes.

"I see," he said. "Then she shall be punished, according to the rules of our society."

The girl began to weep silently.

"Stealing from us, she's practically begging to be a whore." Tianfeng laughed. "We should sell her, and make some money off of her."

I clenched my fists at the thought. I knew that the Qingbang were not above selling girls to local brothels, and I knew that they had their hand in some of them as well. She had stolen, and perhaps she deserved to be punished for it. But the brazenness with which Tianfeng suggested her punishment…

Lau stepped forward. "I have an idea," he said.

Master Zhang turned to him. "Yes, Lau?"

"Why don't I buy her?" he asked. "For as much as you would have sold her for. I'll keep her from crossing the Qingbang again."

Tianfeng shot a murderous look toward Lau, his face reddening and his eyes narrowing. Master Zhang's look was more penseive.

"Alright," he said after awhile. "You may purchase her, Lau."

A smile crept across Lau's face, while Tianfeng looked even more murderous than before.

And that was how we ended up with An'yun.

An'yun slept on my bed. She looked much prettier clean, although her face was still puffed up from the bruises. She had been grateful to Lau, if skeptical of his motivations.

I was skeptical as well.

"Why did you take her in?" I asked him, now that I was sure that An'yun couldn't hear us. I stayed quiet so that I would not wake her. "You're not exactly a philanthropist."

Lau puffed at his pipe without a care in the world. "Oh?" he asked. "Are you jealous, meimei?"

I scowled at him. "Of course not," I said. "But I wonder if that was the smartest idea, making Tianfeng angry like that."

Lau chuckled. "That's the point," he said.

"So you mean you did that on purpose?" I asked. "But he's the one who introduced you to the Qingbang…"

"I guess that's the price of ambition." Lau did not sound at all perturbed that he had just antagonized a member of his own organization, or that there was likely to be retribution.

"Of course," he said. His fox's smile crossed his face. "The girl is just incidental. Don't worry about her, meimei."

"You do realize that you have to take care of her now, right?" I asked him.

"Hmm?" Lau asked.

I sighed, and stood to bring the scrawny girl a snack.

I waited tensely over the next week for Tianfeng's next move. It seemed obvious that Lau had made an enemy of him, and I spent much of my time with him, in order to ensure his safety. I did not think that there was much chance that Tianfeng would attack Lau - it would likely be something done to one-up him. But I wanted to be on the safe side. When I wasn't with Lau, I spent my time with An'yun.

She was not as timid a girl as I had first assumed, and even though she was not yet comfortable with us, she had already started asking questions.

"Miss Ranmao… why did Mr. Lau buy me?"

I shrugged at her question. "Politics," I said.

She frowned. "Oh," she said. "Then is he going to make me a prostitute?"

"I have no idea," I said.

"I think I could be a prostitute, as long as I ate every day. That's why I stole what that man wanted me to carry - I was hungry." An'yun said. I felt sorry for her suddenly. She looked at me with wide eyes. "Are you a prostitute?"

"Close enough," I replied to her question. "I belong to Lau alone."

"Do you like it?"

I blinked at her. Nobody had ever asked me that before.

"I… it's good enough," I said. "Lau is good to me, in his way."

An'yun smiled. "Do you love him?" she asked. She smiled at me, her round cheeks dimpling.

I was once again taken aback by her abruptly personal questions. "Does that matter?" I asked.

"Sure it does!" she said. She crossed her arms and frowned at me, and then gasped and flushed. "I'm sorry, Miss Ranmao. I forgot myself!"

I smiled slightly.

"I know that Mr. Lau bought me for politics, but… do you like me, Miss Ranmao?"

An'yun's expression was carefully, if hopefully, neutral, but the look in her eyes was earnest. Something untrue or flippant could easily hurt her. "It's not a question of like or dislike. You are in my life, and so I have to take you as you are. But I think that you are good, nontheless."

She smiled, but she never got to answer that praise, because the door to the apartment opened. I spun around, anticipating an attack. But it was Lihua.

"Teacher?" I said. I quickly did a mental calculation of our practice schedule. We were not supposed to meet until tomorrow. "What are you doing here?"

Lihua scowled but did not answer the question. "Where is that Qingbang of yours?"

"In his room," I said. Lau had gone to lay down for the night, though it was barely dusk. He had taken his opium pipe with him, and I had taken that as an unspoken cue not to bother him.

"Show me where," Lihua said. For a moment, I struggled between the need to obey my teacher and the need to serve Lau to the best of my ability. But Lihua had no patience for my struggle. "Now, Ranmao. This is important."

"Yes, teacher," I said. I bowed and led her to Lau's room, opening the door. As I had predicted, it was filled with opium smoke and too hot by far, from the brazier he was using to heat his pipe. Lau was half-reclining on his bed, already dressed for sleep.

"Oh, meimei," he said when I entered. "How good to see you. And Lihua. You too."

"Not that good," Lihua said. "I was just attacked. In your name."

Lau sat up, his sleepwear rustling in the silence after that pronouncement. He frowned as he sat up, and that motion made his cheekbones more pronounced in the faint light from the brazier.

"In my name?" he asked.

"I would assume so," Lihua spat. "Those Qingbang thugs mentioned you, when they tried to kill me." I gasped. "What hornets nest have you stirred up?"

"Well," Lau said. "He's certainly made a bold move."

"Who has?" Lihua demanded.

"Tianfeng," I said quietly. "Lau made an enemy out of him, earlier this week."

"This will be very interesting," Lau said. His pronounced frown morphed once again into a grin.

"This is all my fault," An'yun said, staring down at the table.

After I had explained the situation to Lihua, we had all relocated to the main room, where An'yun was still waiting. She had wanted an explanation of what had happened.

"Hmm?" Lau asked. "Oh, yeah. You were there too."

An'yun's eyes widened in confusion.

"It's not your fault," I said calmly. "You were merely incidental to his goals." However strange his goals might be. An'yun bit at her lip, but I did not feel sorry. It might be cold comfort, but at least it would stop her from blaming herself for the whole mess.

"This Tianfeng is going after your base of support," Lihua said. "At least if his attacking me was any indication. Although that was a mistake."

"But a fortunate one," Lau said. He sighed, shrugged and said, "I suppose we'll just have to stop him."

"That's a pretty cocky plan," Lihua said.

"I have a good feeling," Lau said. I shot him a look, and wondered what insanity was prompting this brash confidence. "If nothing else, it will certainly be interesting."

"I think you need to lay off the opium," I said.

"Not at all, meimei," he said. "It makes my head clear."  
I shrugged. Lau would do as he wished, concerning his drug of choice. I did not know if it cleared his head, or not. It had not kept me very aware of my surroundings, the few times I had tried it, but swaying him would be impossible.

"So what should we do?" An'yun asked. She was shaking.

"About?" Lau asked.

"Tianfeng," I reminded him quietly.

"You said that we needed to stop him," An'yun replied.

"I did?" Lau said. "Well, he'll get here eventually, I suppose."

Lihua snorted. "Typical," she said, with a roll of her eyes. "And he won't attack anywhere else in the meantime?"

"Not anywhere important," Lau said. "But if you're worried, just stick with me. It's against our code to attack each other."

"Your word is very reassuring," Lihua said sarcastically. She sighed. "I think that our best plan is to hide, and take whoever might be a target with us. Can you think of anybody, Ranmao?"

I thought furiously. It was against the Qingbang code to attack another member. Lihua was a tenuous connection, but she had been attacked. An'yun, obviously. Would they attack the Kunlun Company itself? All of the boats were kept in the harbor, under the heavy guard of the Foreign Concession.

"Ying," I said. "We should get Ying."

Lihua nodded. "Where is he?"

"He is probably in the counting house," I said.

"I'll go get him, and then we need to leave."

I nodded. Lihua left quickly. I fidgeted, nervously, suddenly feeling chill in my revealing clothing, although it was warm and the sun was shining through the window. An'yun continued to shake, her complexion pale. Lau looked as calm as ever, as he puffed on his opium pipe.

I stood to make a pot of tea, though I did not know if any of us would have time to drink it. It felt good, though, to go through the familiar motions of making tea. I had made it often enough at the brothel, and while living in Shanghai. It was strange, to think how much things had changed since those early days.

The door burst open, breaking my reverie.

"… I demand that you explain to me what is going on, that you burst into my office and disturb me and my accounts—" Lihua stormed through the door, Ying in tow. The accountant was the source of the fuss.

"I already told you, your life is probably in danger." Lihua snapped. "If you can't understand that, then you deserve whatever's coming to you!"

"That's ridiculous. I am a well-respected citizen, no one would dare lay a hand on me. I demand that you let me go back at once, uncouth woman."

Lau just chuckled. "Take the day off today, Ying," he said. "I'll pay you just as much."

Ying sniffed. "Fine," he said.

"Good," Lihua said. "Then we should get going." She began to head for the door, Ying in tow once more. An'yun stood up and also followed.

"Good luck," Lau said, and he waved.

I turned to stare at him. Everybody else did as well.

"Y-you're not going?" An'yun asked.

"Nope."

I searched Lau's face. It was as unquestioningly serene as always. I really did wonder if the opium was going to his head.

"I'm going to wait right here. But have a good time."

Lihua sighed. "Suit yourself," she said. "Come along." She dragged Ying along with her out the door. An'yun followed quickly behind them. I paused at the threshold, searching Lau's face. Was he really so confident that Kunlun's laws would save him?

"Ranmao?" Lihua called back. "Are you coming?"

Lau's smile widened. "You too, meimei."

"But-"

"Don't worry. I have something up my sleeve."

My throat felt tight, as I ducked out of the door and followed Lihua. Ying muttered under his breath, although Lihua never let go of his wrist. An'yun was silent, although she had stopped her trembling. I followed, just as silent as her, thinking about Lau's confident smile. I could never figure out what was behind that look. Did he really have something up his sleeve, or would today be the last day I saw him?

An'yun had asked me earlier, if I loved him. Maybe it wasn't romantic love - it was very far from that. But he had given me a place in life, when every other place had abandoned me. There was something in that, I supposed.

"Unhand me, woman. I can find my own place to hide, thank you. If my life is indeed in danger."

I looked at Ying and Lihua, as they reached the gate. Lihua let go of Ying's hand.

"Fine," she said. Ying huffed and walked away. "Come along, An'yun," Lihua said to the young girl. I stopped and watched them as they walked.

I was not Lihua, strong and confident in her own right. But nor was I a girl like An'yun anymore, scared and questioning my place in the world. I was Ranmao, and that was the only person I could be. And I realized that Ranmao would not run into hiding like this.

Lihua turned around, apparently noticing that I had stopped. "Ranmao?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry, teacher," I said. "Please look after An'yun for me."

An'yun gave me a questioning look, but it was in Lihua's eyes that I searched. She held my gaze for a moment, and then nodded.

I turned around and ran back the way that we had came, only to hear Ying muttering in my wake.

Lau looked up lazily when I burst through the door. He had not moved from the spot where we had left him, laying on his couch.

"Hmm?" he said. "Well, it's a surprise to see you, meimei."

I took a deep breath, and held his eyes with a level gaze. "If this blue jade is to be useful to you," I said. "Then there is use in abandoning you."

Lau's smile stretched across his face. He held his pipe to his lips.

"Indeed," he said. "Though I think you would do better, to call yourself a cat. After all, you have your claws bared."

He nodded to my chui.

I said nothing. Lau reclined himself on the couch, and closed his eyes.

"And now we wait."

We waited, until the sun's rays poured through the windows of our abode with fierce spears. The light seemed redder than usual, although that might have been my imagination. I made several more pots of tea, but never strayed far from my weapons. Those were essential.

I sighed, wondering where Lihua and An'yun and Ying had gone to hide. I hoped that Tianfeng hadn't caught up with them yet. Although I knew that Lihua could protect herself and An'yun, I worried that Ying might be caught unawares. But there was no use in going out to check. Lau was adamant about staying put - and he had not moved from his reclining position for hours.

The waiting was the worst part. After I had made up my mind to stay with Lau, all sorts of doubts began to creep into my head. What if Lau had no plan? What if he was placing too much confidence in Kunlun's rules?

I could never read Lau. His irremovable smile was always a mystery to me. I did not know if I should place my faith in him.

But he was all that I had right now.

I smoothed my hands on my skirt, and was just standing up to make another pot of tea when the door opened and Ying came in.

I stared at him for a moment. "Ying?" I asked, incredulous. "What are you doing here?"

I noticed that there was sweat across his brow. I backed up toward the wall where my chui were mounted.

"There's something, that Master Lau needs to see," he said. "Something with the… the boats. He just needs to come out, to the courtyard."

"Oh?" Lau asked. He stretched in his location. "I'll see it later."

Ying fisted his hands in his suit. "I think that you need to see it now," he said. "It's really very, very important."

Lau sighed, stretched once again, and then stood. "Well, if it's that important," he said. I frowned. There was something about Ying's manner…

"I'll come with you, gege," I said.

"Oh, no need," Ying said. "I just need to show him, you should wait here…"

I looked at Lau, and he nodded slowly. I sighed, and headed into the kitchen to make tea as I had planned, as Lau followed Ying outside. But I didn't make tea. As soon as the door closed, I felt that something wrong wrong, in my gut. Why was Ying back? If it was about the Kunlun boats, why would Lau need to come to the courtyard?

I dashed into the other room and grabbed my chui, and then flew outside and down the stairs to the courtyard.

Tianfeng was there, accompanied by a crowd of ten armed men, who looked like they meant business. One of them had Lau's arms locked behind his back. He did not look disturbed in the least by this turn of events. Ying stood with them, trembling and sweating, a knife in his fingers.

I quickly hid myself behind the grape plant arbor, wondering what I could do against eleven armed men. I listened hard, trying to figure out a plan.

"Do it now, Ying," Tianfeng ordered the trembling man. "Didn't you want this? Didn't he demote you, good for nothing though he is?"

"Y-y-yes," Ying said. "But I'm a scholar, not a killer. You would be better…"

"Kunlun's laws forbid me - or any of the rest of us - from laying a hand on him," Tianfeng said. "But if you were to kill him, that wouldn't be a problem at all. Remember how he disgraced you, how he disgraced your position! Remember how he was always dipping into the company coffers, for his opium and his bribes. Or how he brought that no-account girl from a no-account town back with him!"

Ying trembled, but then seemed to regain his resolve. "You're right," he said. "He did disgrace me, and my position, and the name of the Kunlun Trading Company. He deserves this!" He raised the knife.

"NO!" I yelled. I dashed out from behind the grape arbor, my heart pounding as the knife seemed to move in slow motion. I got there just in time to knock the knife from Ying's hands. It skittered across the courtyard's stones. I spun around, striking with both my chui at the same time. The man holding Lau managed to dodge one, but not the other, and he dropped his arms.

"Well," Tianfeng said, his voice dangerously low. "Looks like she didn't stay behind after all."

"Hello, meimei," Lau said.

I dropped into a crouch, in front of Lau, watching Tianfeng's men closing in, all drawing their weapons. I knew that it was hopeless. But I was like a cornered cat now, and I would do anything to protect Lau.

I lashed out with my chui, taking down two more men in quick succession, then injuring a third. One of my maces was suddenly whipped from my hand, and it hit the ground with a crash and rolled away from me. I dashed for it, but was cut off by two of Tianfeng's men. I elbowed one in the windpipe. The other I caught in the solar plexus with my remaining chui. He fell to the ground.

As I turned to face another one, pain flared across my hand and my remaining weapon dropped from my hand. My hand had just been slashed with a knife, and was bleeding profusely. Another man came up behind me, and twisted my arm behind my back, so that it felt like my shoulder might pop out of its socket. I let out a cry of pain, and struggled to attack my captor. But every movement caused more pain in my arm.

It was over, I realized.

"Bring her here," Tianfeng ordered. My captor marched me over toward Tianfeng. He reached down and took a sword from one of the men I had knocked unconscious. When my captor had brought me close enough, Tianfeng drew me closer with the sword against my throat. He settled an arm around me, my back to his chest in a dangerous embrace, the sharp edge of the sword pressing into my neck, ready to cut at a second's notice. I swallowed instinctively. I could feel it barely break my skin.

Lau was facing me. He was no longer under guard. Apparently I was hostage enough.

"I am going to enjoy what I do to you," he said. He stroked my hair with his free hand, sword still pressed to my throat. "Lau's little kept pet. Well, his days of stealing power are at an end."

I said nothing. Instead, I found Lau's eyes, trying to tell him that I was sorry. Sorry that I could not be any use to him.

He smiled back at me, and his fox's eyes opened, revealing their utterly normal brown color. There was eternal mirth in those as well, even now that we looked beaten. He looked at me, and then down. I followed his gaze, confused, as he stared down at his own sleeve.

And then I finally realized what that smile was trying to tell me. I took a deep breath, feeling the sword press on my throat.

Several things happened at once. I grabbed Tianfeng's arm and threw him over my shoulder, Tianfeng's remaining men rushed to help him, and Lau effortlessly stepped forward, a shining needle protruding from his sleeve.

I stared in horror at the spectacle before me. The needle had gone straight through Tianfeng's throat, and the wound was gushing blood all over the courtyard. Lau let him go a second later. His tangzhuang was covered in blood, the sleeve the worst drenched. Tianfeng fell to the ground, gasping for air.

The remaining conscious men just stared as Tianfeng died on the floor of the courtyard.

"Well," Lau said mildly. "That's over."

—

"You have broken the first rule of a Qingbang, Lau," Master Zhang said. We were in that same shrine where Lau had been confirmed as a Qingbang years earlier, our heads to the floor as we kowtowed to the master. Almost immediately after we had finished fighting, we had been summoned by Master Zhang. "You killed Tianfeng, your first teacher and the man who introduced you to the organization. You, and your adopted sister, have both caused harm to our brotherhood, and therefore there are repercussions."

I held my breath, waiting for him to pronounce the sentencing.

"However," he said. "Because it was Tianfeng who first attacked you, your own attack was in self-defense. Thus, I and the oother Qingbang masters have conferred, and we have decided not to strip you of the title of a Qingbang. Instead, we will exile you from China. Immediately after Tianfeng's funeral, you will board a ship and go to the British Empire, and you shall be our contact there."

"Yes, Master," Lau replied. My gaze flickered over to him. He was grinning, even with his head pressed to the floor.

"And you will cut your hair. As a symbol that you have been disgraced."

I sighed, looking out at the courtyard where Tianfeng had met his last. It was all scrubbed clean of the blood, by the new administrator of the Shanghai Branch of the Kunlun Trading Company. Though it had been Lau's needle that had done him in, I had been complicit in killing him. I had not liked him, but the fact remained that I had killed him. And I thought that, with England ahead of us, he might not be the last.

That was alright with me, I realized. I could only be what I was, and what I was now was a killer. With my decision to stay by Lau's side, that was the path that I had chosen.

I looked up when I heard footsteps. It was Lihua.

"Teacher," I said. I stood and bowed to her. "I'm afraid I won't be able to see you again, after today."

She nodded. "I heard what happened," she said. "You're leaving to England, within a few days."

"We're taking An'yun with us," I said. "She doesn't have anywhere else to go."

"Good," Lihua said. "And I have a request for you."

I nodded. I did not know what I could do for her, but I was eternally indebted to Lihua for everything that she had taught me. "Anything," I said.

"Take me, and my daughter, with you. Shanghai is not a very good city, to a woman who no longer has a husband."

I stared at her, noncomprehending.

"Well?" she demanded.

"You have a daughter?" I said.

"Why else do you think I decided to train you?" Lihua asked. "I needed experience training a novice in the Huashan arts, before I trained my daughter."

My mouth opened in shock. Lihua crossed her arms, unimpressed. "You are a very unobservant pupil," she said. She sighed. "Your answer?"

"Of course you can come!" I blurted out. "O-of course, I have to ask Lau…"

Lihua shook her head at me.

Shanghai's harbor was covered in mist when we boarded the Peninsular & Orient ship with a group that included not only myself, Lau, An'yun, Lihua and her daughter, but two other girls connected to the Qingbang who Master Zhang had sent along with us, and another member of the Qingbang who would be returning to China immediately afterward.

I stared over the railing as we took off from Shanghai's harbor, remembering the first time that I had seen the city from the riverboat. The city was obscured by the mist today, and I could barely make out the buildings.

"What are you looking at, meimei?" Lau asked. He joined me against the passenger ship's rail. His newly shorn hair was tousled.

"The city," I said. I blew out a long breath of air. It was useless to look back at a city that I could not see, but I wanted a last glimpse of Shanghai. I could never have imagined what that city had become to me, back on that riverboat. "I wonder what London will be like."

Lau wrapped an arm around my waist. I settled into his embrace. By now, it felt much more natural like this, his chin resting against my head, his breath in my hair, my body curved into his chest.

I could almost hear him grinning.

"I'm sure it will be interesting, meimei."

**London, 1889**

"Thank you for your assistance, Earl!" Lau called pleasantly. The young man scoffed, and stepped into his waiting carriage. Sebastian closed the carriage door behind him. I did not think that Lau minded the lack of a goodbye.

We watched as the carriage drove off, Lau's arms around my waist.

"That was very interesting," Lau said. We had just dropped Peifeng off with Scotland Yard. I wasn't sure if Lau approved of this. He normally liked to handle his affairs himself. But with the Earl and his butler involved, we had to follow their rules.

"You told me London would be interesting," I reminded him.

Lau chuckled. I could feel his breath against my ear.

"Do you regret leaving China?" I asked him.

"No," Lau said. "And you, meimei?"

I thought about that for a moment. "You made me more than a bauble," I said.

"That I did," Lau said. In the corner of my eye, I saw him smile his fox's grin. "Don't worry. I don't think China has forgotten us just yet, meimei."

_fin_


End file.
